A Tender Heart

Sometimes Many times So often I couldn't recount all of the times if I tried, this little girl melts my heart. Today while we were playing with her blocks she looked up at me and, in a very sad little voice, said what sounded like, "Lamb crying." The look on her face was so sad and worried! She has a book about "little Lamb" and also a sheep finger puppet, but we hadn't played with either one this morning and I wasn't sure what she was talking about. I said, "Lamb is crying?"
"Uh huh."
"Is Lamb sad?"
"Uh huh."
"Does Lamb need a hug?"
"Uh HUH!"
She gave me a big cuddle and I asked, "Where is Lamb?" She went running off towards her bedroom and I waited, interested to see who or what she would bring back. She returned a few seconds later, empty-handed. We played a little longer and again she looked at me, "Lamb crying!"
"Can you go find Lamb?"
"Uh huh!"
Again she ran off and returned, a few seconds later, empty-handed. Twice more we went through this little dance and then I asked her, "Do you need help finding Lamb?"
"Uh huh."
Off she ran and I followed her into the kitchen where she stood on her tip toes, trying to open the kitchen door. I asked her, "Where are you going?" Again she said,
"Lamb crying."
Suddenly a light bulb went off in my head. "Liam? Do you mean 'Liam crying'?"
A huge smile spread across her face. "Uh huh! Liam crying!" Again she tried to open the kitchen door. "Find Liam!"
This is where my heart turned into a puddle and my eyes got misty. Liam is a little boy at our Bible study about 6 months younger than Clara. Ever since he was born, she has been fascinated by him. He has a hard time being away from his mama and will often cry in the nursery. It just melted my heart that my sweet little girl thought of Liam, thought he might be crying and wanted to do something to help him. I explained to her that we couldn't go find him today, but we would see him tomorrow and today we could pray for him, that he wouldn't be sad and wouldn't cry. She ran over, crawled into my lap, held my hands and bowed her head solemnly while we prayed for Liam and his family.

It is my constant prayer that she will stay tender-hearted to those she sees who are grieving or in need and that God would give me great wisdom as I seek to nurture her desire to care for others.