The bus stopped in front of our little shanty.
It took me to church.
I was a mess.
Poverty doesn't care what you look like.
I jumped off the bus feeling as lost as a puppy.
I don't think anyone noticed me.
She did.
Her dark hair was pulled back into a beehive on top of her head. It was so carefully teased it made her face look like it glowed. I watched her big blue eyes watching my every move. I saw her red lips move. What? Was she talking to me? Yes. She came over to me and took my hand.
She led me to the clean church bathroom. It smelled of orange peelings. She pulled a brush out of her bag and detangled my gnarled, unkept tresses. She brushed and brushed until every strand was as smooth as her own hair. She pinned my hair up using the booby pins from her own french bun. Gently she washed my face and hands, then her manicured fingers brushed the mud and crude from my second hand dress.
It felt so good to be loved this way.
She spoke words of affirmation into my poor soul.
She blessed a child.
We left the bathroom to a sit in the sanctuary. We sat side by side. The hard wooden pews felt smooth, strong, perfect and so secure. She held my hand.
All of a sudden she moved away from me to go up to the pulpit. She left me. I felt empty. Then she began to sing a lovely song. She sang about Jesus and how she would praise Him ten thousand days into eternity. She sang the old, old story of love and faithfulness. I wanted to know her Jesus.
At the end of the service, she walked me to bus and waved good-bye.
I never saw her again.
She blessed a child that day - she blessed me.
It's been over fifty years since the day that bus dropped me off at the church. This woman lives in the inner recesses of my memory. It's a happy place. I am that child all over again. She remains nameless, but not forgotten.
I will never forget her.
I will never forget her, Jesus.
I will never forget the day she blessed a child.
Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Matthew 19:14
