Lessons to be Learned

Every Sunday I feel like I learn something new from the young teenage girls I work with at church. Today was no exception.
All of our girls are wonderful, and each of them for their own special reason. We have one girl who has a heart as big as the world, and one of the most loveable things about her is that she has no idea just how rare she is.
Today one of the other leaders, who is a grandmother of a special needs little girl, announced that she will be walking in a March of Dimes event in a few months. She invited the girls, that if they wanted to, to save their pocket change to donate to her fundraising. That is all she asked of them- pocket change. If you know our girls, it will come as no surprise that immediately they started asking if they could walk with her too. And I strongly suspect that some of them will actually do it, because that is just who they are. (However, I'm sure they don't know the fundraising aspect of it all, and once they find out, it may hold several of them back.)
The minute our church meetings ended, this one sweet girl quickly left the room. Where she went I don't know. But she reappeared just minutes later holding a handful of pocket change. Whether she got it from her own purse, her mother's purse, or the ash tray in the car (that's where all of my change is!), I don't know. But it brought tears to my eyes and I got all choked up at how excited she was to rush back in there and hand over her money.
This same sweet girl asks me regularly about my friends' son who is fighting a brain tumor at St Jude. A few months ago I taught the girls how to knit hats, with the intent of donating our finished hats to St Jude. I told the girls about this little boy, and since then his name has popped up in prayers, and in comments to me. She tells me that she tries to remember to pray for him every day, and always wants an update on his condition.
I've decided to make this sweet girl my example this week- to serve and love unconditionally. There is something to be learned from everyone we meet. And this week, I will learn from a sixth grade, twelve year old girl.