William was at school that Saturday willing to lend a hand to our Sardis Kenya mission team. From my past experiences, most kids I had met that were at school on Saturdays helping to clean in the states had gotten in trouble for something. This was not the case at the Compass School. William was not in trouble that day- he just had a grand heart and much pride in his school.
After scrubbing mud off the classroom doors together, we started painting them bright blue. Carelessly, I reached down to dip my brush into the paint bucket and ending up leaning over into the door covering one elbow with wet paint. I looked down to see William’s reaction – I was thinking my little buddy would be laughing at me from my clumsy mistake.
To my astonishment – he was gone. He had literally been next to me for two hours. William and I made quite the team and I was really upset that he left quickly without saying goodbye. Minutes later, William returned with a concerned look on his face.
He knelt down next to me and gently reached for my arm.
He held my arm in one of his hands and a damp rag in the other – a rag that melted my heart and transformed my mind. A rag that might typically be thrown away… a rag that might have once been a part of a sleeve of a child’s torn uniform.
I never really thought a rag would be that symbolic to me, but it’s amazing what grabs a hold of your heart.
The rag that William held in his hand represented the love of Christ. Yes, that’s right … a damp, torn, ripped to shreds Rag. One rag that would remain instilled in my heart for a lifetime. That precious child of God, William, went in search of a rag, such a rare find in his village of Thogoto, and with that rag he showed me the spirit of the Lord.
William carefully cleaned the paint off my elbow until every last speck was gone. Quite a simple gesture – one of monumental significance. Wow, so that is how the love of Christ can be passed from one of God’s children to another.
I thought to myself, ” I am here to serve William – not for William to serve me.” God spoke to me and said, “William may be a lot younger and smaller than you Emily – but he is just as capable as serving in my Kingdom as you are.”
How convicting, William’s gesture would lead me to understand an idea that no child in the Kingdom is unable to serve and no rag in the Kingdom should be noted unworthy of glorifying our Father’s care for us.
