Santa or Wise Men or Drummer Boy?

Two weeks ago, I dropped off over 100 items (including crocheted hats, scarves, and fingerless gloves) for the homeless in our town. Today, I dropped off 3 trash bags filled with stuffed animals to a haven for children awaiting adoption, plus 3 more trash bags filled with crocheted lap blankets and shawls and capelets to a long-term care facility for its residents.

I didn't make or accumulate these all by myself. I did make a lot of the crocheted items, but three or four other ladies also contributed to the crocheted items. The stuffed animals were given by yet another person. And some ceramic angels (over 60), contributed by yet another woman (they went to the long-term care residents).

My part in all of this was completely accidental. It seems as though the Lord decided he could trust me to find good homes for these items. I guess I am his distributor.

It was a wicked morning, though. The first place, for the children, really wore me out just finding it. The building was easy to find - the first building, that is. I had to walk almost a block through a huge parking lot to get to the front doors. Luckily, I decided to leave the bags in the van for that first walk. It was also chilly this morning with 40 mph wind gusts. I was happy to get to the information desk. For a moment. I was then given a map of the complex, and sent back out to the street (walked back to the van), drove all around the block to a back lot, and then to a trailer. Still, with all of that, it felt so good to see how happy the staff was to receive our offerings.

The next stop was the long-term care center. I had been told that this was a "rear" facility. I had to go past a first rehabilitation center, to the back of the complex. I somehow entered on the wrong side of the buildings, asked an employee for directions, and had to pull a U-turn and go back where I had just been. Again, I was smart enough to not take the bags with me. When I finally got inside, I was sent almost a block away, but inside, to a lady's office. It was locked. I went back to the front desk. This time, she agreed to page someone and said I could pull the van around to the front loading/unloading area. Again, the staff was delighted with what I dropped off.

The two drop-offs wore this 70-yr-old lady out, at first. Then, after I knew I was done, I started to feel joy, like Santa and his sack of presents. I quickly changed that to think of myself more like one of the Wise Men giving gifts to the child Jesus, and from there, humbly, I agreed to myself that our offerings were more in tune with that of the mythical Little Drummer Boy.

Father, thank you for trusting me to distribute these offerings to the right places, and thanks for the stamina to get through the confusion; help me to be always willing to go where you send me.