March 8, 2011

A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Matthew 8:2-3

In the same way, we are called to be Jesus' hands and feet and clean the world….

It was a beautiful, fall day and the kids and I - and of course the dog- walked to the park - just down the hill from our house. The kids ran to play on the playground while I rested on the bench as I was 7 months pregnant with our fifth child…and as you know, even just a walk down the hill can be exhausting.
Soon after I sat down, my 6 year old came over to me running, "Mom! Mom! Someone wrote bad things on the slides. There is a big butt going potty!" "And there is even the F- word!" My 10 year old boy, Ben, shouted from the tower.
Oh no, I thought. He'll probably ask me what that means.
I wasn't quite ready for that…and neither were my kids. Ben just knew that the F word was bad - thanks to a neighbor. I walked - no waddled - over to the slide area…and sure enough there was foul language - and a few lovely illustrations - written in permanent black marker all over the playground. My heart sank as I quickly glanced over a few of the statements and grieved the fact that someone (probably some teens - just children themselves) would actually do something like that.
"Why would someone do that?" My nine year old, Anna, asked sadly. "That's awful." "Yes, it is awful," I affirmed.

My kids gathered around me like chicks gathering around a mother hen. "All through life, you guys will be brought into the muck. You will see things that are not right and that make you feel sad…just like right here….but that is an opportunity to bring Jesus. He needs people like you who can see the bad and to bring Him to the situation. How can you do that now?"
"We can pray for them," Anna answered.
"That's right." I said.
"And then we can clean it up!" suggested Grace, my six year old.
"That's a great idea. We can come back tomorrow with supplies and clean it up," I said.
"No," replied Anna. "Let's do it now…right after we pray."
She was right. Why wait?
"Yes," I thought about it. "I think we have what we need to get this off. Nail polish remover should do the trick. But first, let's pray…
The kids and I held hands on the playground amidst the dirt.
"Heavenly Father, we pray for the people who did this. We know that you love them and that you want the best for them. Please show us how to pray for them…"
My 10 year old had a prayer image on his heart of teens smoking and then Jesus coming into the scene - they saw Him and put out their cigarettes. The smoke went away and light surrounded them and was brought into their hearts…and their hearts were illuminated with the light. My six year old had an image of them receiving hearts from the sky. My nine year old saw that their hearts were black and Jesus embraced them and their hearts were changed. I lifted those images up in prayer, "Help them to receive Jesus' love, Father. Help them to see Jesus' light and for His light and truth and love to change their hearts. In Jesus' name…Amen."
We then ran up and got the supplies from the house. We all began wiping - even the two year old…and praise God.. the black permanent marker came off easily. After about 20 minutes, the park was changed. It was cleansed and clean once more.
The kids and I walked - and waddled- up the hill. We were home again. "How about writing about this?" I asked. "What about making some articles for dad about the experience?" Of course, I'm always looking to make something more into a "school moment."
The kids were excited about this. They spent the next hour or so making articles about what they did and about who they thought did the vandalizing. They had fun writing about the "mysterious park vandalizers" and illustrating who they thought they might be.
As their mother and teacher, I was excited about this. Not only were they writing and working together on a project , but they had learned a valuable lesson. They learned and lived how to bring Christ into an ugly situation. They learned how at any moment we can get down on our knees and pray - and that Christ can use us to help be His hands and feet and cleanse the world.