Gifted

She seemed confident and assured—an excellent Sunday School teacher, a gifted youth worker, and, what I envied most, an accomplished organist whose music soared in the little church on the corner. We were only going to be in town for eight months, but amazingly, a house was available across the street from hers. She was almost in her eighties—I had just turned ten.

The doorbell rang as we were moving in. There she stood with a plate of cookies in one hand and a grocery bag in the other. My parents were obviously glad to see her. I drifted back toward my new bedroom while the grownups chatted.

Then I heard my name. Was she talking about me? What had I done? I stood around the corner from them so they couldn’t see me. After all, children should be seen, not heard.
“I thought she might like some books to read,” I heard her say. The grocery bag rattled as she set it down. I was there in a flash, looking through the books carefully selected to appeal to a girl my age. In a new house with no friends, no TV, nothing to do, they seemed like a fountain in the desert.

I felt her eyes on me, and my timid spirit took over. I started to fade down the hall, trying to be invisible. She called me back. “I hear you’re learning to play the piano,” she said. I nodded shyly. “Would you like to try an organ? I have one in my house.”

Of course I couldn’t go over there and play in front of someone I didn’t even know! She must have sensed the reason behind my hesitation.

“I usually work in my garden between 9 and 10 in the morning,” she said. “I’ll set some music books out, and you can just come over and have the house to yourself. Try it out and see if you like it.”

So I did—hesitantly at first, but gaining boldness as the days went on. Eventually, I didn’t even mind if she stayed in the house when I played. Soon I was stopping in the garden to talk with her on my way home, soothed and comforted by the chance to play that rumbling organ. Her interest, the fact that I mattered to her, was a powerful key to surviving a difficult time in my life.

I still can’t play the organ very well—unfortunately, her musical gift didn’t rub off on me. Her mentoring spirit, however, did. What greater gift can we give?

Not optional!

Two questions:

1. How old do the "younger women" have to be before we start teaching them the values Paul lists?
2. Does this sound like it's optional?

"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." (Titus 2:3-5)