A little over a week ago my wife, Tammy, brought home a card from staff at a local child care centre.
Comments written on the card literally blew us both away.
Tammy completed her role there as a special needs worker in March, at Koonawarra Childcare centre, a role she had been fulfilling since late 2004, after initially starting work there as a casual.
Work for special needs workers are case by case scenario's. Its a job designed for concentrating on kids with physical, mental or learning disabilities.
In Tammy's case she had been looking after children with autism, elephantitis (elephant man syndrome) and down syndrome.
Once the children reach primary school age, the role of a special needs worker ends.
She recently returned to work at Dapto Childcare Centre to be a carer of a boy who has dyspraxia, and a severe case of autism.
Dapto and Koonawarra Childcare Centres are both controlled by the Illawarra Children's Services, who is Tammy's employer.
Before Tammy finished up at Koonawarra, the staff silently collected money in order to buy her a gift to send her off with.
After collecting a substantial amount of money, they initially thought they would just give her the money so she could just buy what ever she wanted.
However they gave that a second a thought, as I have, they have learned about Tammy's strength … the ability to focus on What is Most Important.
They called her and told her of the amount of money they had collected, and when they did, she nearly fell over and died with embarrassment.
My wife is an extremely humble, self effacing and self denying person.
She never really gives a second thought for the reasons why she does things because she does things out the good of her heart.
She is very well disciplined and has a generous spirit.
With me being on the direct opposite to her on the Three Color Cycle, it takes me a lot to be able to convince her that she doesn't have to go with out in order for our kids to have things.
It took some time to get her to be okay with accepting the gift she had received.
Although this is a strength and quality I love and adore about her.
As a kid she grew up lacking confidence in her own abilities, and at times, is not sure of her significance in the world.
And its with deep shame that in the early and the middle years of our marriage ( eight years ), I hadn't done enough to help improve the quality of that part of her life … in recent years I have worked endlessly and tirelessly to turn that around.
The girls knew that if they had of given Tammy all of the money, she would have put it on the bills.
So now we have a pet cat.
THE CARD SAID MORE
If the gift did not speak enough volumes of Tammy's significance, the card sure did. It actually said more than the gift.
When Tammy came home gave me the card to read, it blew me away, and it was a clear reminder of my divinely appointed role as her husband to build her up.
After I had read it, I said to her, "You should put this card on the fridge and read it to yourself at any time you begin to doubt your own significance … because this says a lot.”
I handed it back to her as she had not really "read” it properly, and when she did, she melted.
Not all of the girls she works with are Christians.
A couple of them claim to go to church every now and again, but there is no real evidence of strong commitment.
It was a comment by one of the girls who is not a Christian that blew us away:
" Dear Tam, we will all miss you! You are an amazing person. Your positive outlook and happy personality has taught us all so much … Thank you, love Renee ( not her real name ). ”
There were other similar comments written on the card.
As I write this and re – read some of the comments, I feel like the most blessed guy on earth!
UNIVERSAL CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITIES AND INFLUENCE …
The thing that leaps out at me about the whole thing is a re – enforcement of the Kingdom responsibilities we all have.
Christian Schwarz calls them Universal Christian Responsibilities in the " 3 Colors of Ministry. ”
These are the area's in which we are not specifically gifted in but have a responsibility to fulfill.
You do not need to be a gifted evangelist in order to share the Gospel with people.
Whether we like it or not, Jesus told us all to go out in to the world and make disciples … this involves sharing our faith and teaching people to do what Jesus to taught his disciples to and did.
The evangelist ratio in your local church is about one in ten people, and the people who have shepherding gifts are an even smaller ratio, so they can't be at your work, university, school, the gym, or where you happen to be at any given time.
In Tammy's situation just by how she conducted herself at work was a form of sharing the gospel.
And the comments written on the card had been a signal that it had been noticed.
A day probably will come when Renee might actually sit down with Tammy to talk life with her and ask some questions where she will have to be ready and prepared to give a reason for the hope she has. ( 1 Peter 3 : 15 )
She is not an evangelist but I do have evangelism in my gift mix.
So its just as much my Universal Christian Responsibility to teach her how she can share her faith and the reason for the hope that she has, if she is to fulfill hers.
Its a two way thing. People who are gifted in area's where people are not, have to be willing to help them … there is much we can all learn.
I don't have the gift of mercy, but Tammy does, and I learn a lot from her.
The other thing is, you don't need to be a certain this or that in order to have a good Godly influence on the lives of others.
Everyone has an influence on someone be it good or bad.
The irony of it all is that Tammy has since returned to Koonawarra for one day a week
Dapto and Koonawarra had been jokingly fighting over who would have her services … this is a significant thing in itself.