Hello God! Can You Use Me?

“Hello. My name is Addie Ann. What’s yours?” Oh, my. There I go again. My parents tell me that I talk so much and ask lots of questions! Well, it is true that I am curious; but, how can I learn without asking questions? “Are you that way, too?” Along with my doll, Chatty, and my dog, Poochie, I lived with Mom and Daddy in a tiny apartment until one day when we moved to a small house in the country where I could run and play outside. Here is a story about my first new neighbor. For Addie Ann, the best part of having a church as a neighbor was its gloriously big churchyard, which was a haven of a playground. As soon as the grass had dried from the early-morning dew, she would gather her two best friends and run to the churchyard. One friend was her favorite doll, Chatty. Addie Ann was careful to hold her tightly as she ran so as not to drop her. Chatty’s short blonde hair and blue dress with white eyelet trim blew in the wind, as did Addie Ann’s long brown hair as she ran. Alongside them trotted Addie Ann’s other best friend, a short white-haired dog named Poochie. Poochie was just a stray mutt who appeared one day, but to Addie Ann he was very smart and almost human because he seemed to understand every word she said to him. Addie Ann liked the warm weather best because it was during those times that the kind elderly minister would open the church windows, and Addie Ann could hear him as he rehearsed the upcoming sermon. She would sit beneath the window closest to the pulpit, where she could listen to him better as he practiced each word of the sermon outline—how soft or loud it would be, when he would motion with his hands, or when he would walk away from the pulpit while he spoke. She could hear him step up onto the pulpit, with the clump, clump of his footsteps on the creaky wooden floor as he sounded out his message. “Now, listen to me carefully. God can use each one of you. He wants to use you. He has given to each of you your own individual talents and skills. Daily he shows his great love for you. Are you using those talents and skills for Him?” Addie Ann stood on her tiptoes, reached up as far as she could, and then quietly tapped on the lower edge of the wooden window frame. The minister walked over, leaned out, and looked down at her. “Why, Addie Ann—hello! Do you have a question for me today?” “Mmhmm,” she said with a knowing smile. “I heard you say that God wants to use each person. Can God use me? I really don’t have lots of talents. I don’t think I have anything that I’m especially good at.” “That’s definitely a yes. Actually, it is a big yes! The words of the Bible are for adults and children the same. God made each person special. Now, sweet little one, you just be willing to watch and to wait and to be prepared to use the gifts He has already given to you.” Together they prayed and asked God to help her find ways to show God’s love to others. The next day at her school, everyone was looking forward to lunch and recess. Once everyone had gone through the lunch line and had been seated, Addie Ann noticed that Quinn did not have very much to eat in her lunchbox. Addie Ann looked into her own lunchbox and pulled out her food. So as not to embarrass Quinn, she told Quinn that her mom had put too much food in her box and asked her whether she could share her lunch with her. Quinn was so happy that she had something to eat and eagerly took the food and mumbled with a mouth full of food, “Thanks!” At recess, Addie Ann was pushing Tonya on the swing set. Suddenly, Tonya fell out of the swing and began to cry. “Look! My knees are all cut up.” Addie Ann helped Tonya back to the teacher and held her hand as the teacher cleaned and bandaged Tonya’s knees. “Oh, thank you for helping me and not running off when I fell. You helped me get my knees fixed and made me not hurt so much when the medicine was put on.” When the class went back into the building, they were standing in line for their turn at the water fountain. Marco was very thirsty and wanted to move up in the line, so he pushed ahead of everybody. He pushed so hard that Jensen fell down. Addie Ann helped Jensen up off the floor. Addie Ann asked Marco if he would like it if someone had pushed him. Then she shared with him one of her favorite Bible verses: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Then she said, “Marco, that is something good for you to think about.” That afternoon, when Addie Ann got home from school, she gathered Chatty and Poochie and ran to the churchyard to play. The minister saw her and called to her, “Come over here, little one. Please tell me about your day at school.” And so she did. She told him about her friends Quinn, Marco, Katy, and Zander and what had happened. “Don’t you see? God did use you today. There is no one else in this world exactly like you. You might not have realized it, but today you had the chance to use your gifts of kindness, gentleness, and love of your friends not only to share a memory verse with them but also to help them when they needed help. You did use your gifts for God.” “Wow, I guess I did! I will keep looking for more ways that I can help others.”