A memory tickled my mind the other day...Melina was only about four or five years old. She was always looking out for garbage and we would often make a point of carrying shopping bags to put trash in when we walked to the park.
Now I can't remember how the "wish" aspect of this story came into play - if it was one of her nightly prayers, or a "first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight"... either way, her heart was set on a special request which came to light this one day we were walking back from the park.
Boy she was a busy body so holding her hand while walking was not always easy as she was often distracted by cracks in the side walk, sticks in the grass, etc... But I do recall her holding my hand as we approached our house when she stopped dead in her tracks and gasped.
I looked at her to see what she was looking at and saw City of Winnipeg workers down the road picking up trash with special little grabby-devices. I looked back at Melina who looked up at me in awe and said "Mommy... my wish came true! I asked God to make the world cleaner!"
A simple request... not for toys or for "things" but for our planet to be better cared for. How beautiful is the heart of a child?
So let us keep the hope of a little girl in our heart when purchasing new items or throwing them away. I have no doubt that there are ways to be smart with old lightbulbs, tv's, computers, batteries, etc... There has to be a way to reduce the ridiculous amounts of garbage we create individually and worst of all, collectively.
So my prayer tonight joins in with my little Mina's from so long ago... that we become wiser as a collective, that we work WITH our beautiful planet, that our love for it exceeds all greed and that we give back twice what we take. That our planet be pure and clean for our grandchildren's children so that their food may be life-giving and the air they breath be clean. In Jesus' precious name... amen.PS - if you click on the last image, you will see the amazing moment I captured on film. Melina just stopped out of nowhere and reached her hand out just as I snapped the picture. In my mind, I had wanted to capture her riding her tricycle but when the picture was developed and it showed her "catching" the ray of light, I was deeply moved. No wonder Jesus told us to have the faith of a child!
1 comment:
How so very precious. Katherine too has always prayed that there be no pollution in the world, on the earth, and in the earth. Last night, we spent time sorting our recycling. It's not very straightforward here in Regina. We have to group items, some go to one place, others go to another (there's no pick up...). It's unclear what types of bottles are accepted at one, and not the other, etc. etc. I had to laugh that the person who is the contact for more recycling information told me to hold while she looked it up! She came back with "there are drop offs at every mall"... So helpful... We are all eager to figure it out. We've sorted the best we could. We'll learn more as we proceed. All the while, it does feel good to see our garbage bin down to half now that we've got this underway.
Hooray to the children with vision and compassion for Mother Earth!! I'm right in there with them!!
Love,
Diane
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