 |
| Chico is the second from the left, next to Susan. |
Chico is a simple girl who just loves Brenda. Of course everyone loves Brenda, but she and Chico have something special going on and, for some reason, I hardly gave her a glance. Perhaps the reason is because she was already “taken” or perhaps the reason was because she’d not done anything in particular that made me take notice. As I reflect on this fact, I wonder how many children get overlooked because they don’t fuss for attention or fight for their food.
Yet toward the end of our visit, Chico somehow chose me. This is not to say that she favored me over Brenda, but she probably saw that Brenda was busy and that I was kind of hanging back taking it all in. This smart girl seized the moment by grabbing my hand. Enough of the taking my hand thing…I immediately swooped her up into my arms and kept her close. I knew she would get a dolly then but with all the children around I feared the dolly would be taken from this meek girl. I waited until we were alone to give her the new friend. She seemed so very interested in having a toy, a scarce commodity in places like this.
Back to the idea of being chosen. There’s something about it. Something wonderful and amazing. Of all the people there, why me? She and many others probably chose me because I’m white and I brought gifts. But still…think about that. God is like Chico in that he chose us. All we have to do is grab his hand and he’ll swoop us up. He has wonderful gifts for us…way better than dollies and dresses. Yet so often we hesitate to go to him and grab his hand. Why?