“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
Incredulity and shock slapped me in the face.
The wind whipped against my cheeks. Snow flecks flurried everywhere. The cold hurt my lips.
I couldn’t feel my fingers. It was dark, and we couldn’t see well. It was dangerous walking across this huge carpark.
“I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU GIRLS TO PUT YOUR HANDS IN YOUR POCKETS! IT’S FREEZING!”
Even though we just had a short distance in the parking lot to hustle past, my bones ached with the cold.
With my five-year old’s history of severe eczema, I knew this could easily trigger a scratching flare, or worse, an onset of hives.
“SARAH-FAITH!” I yelled, squinting my eyes through the biting wind. What did she think she was doing?
But as soon as I saw through her intentions, tears flooded my eyes.
While she had kept one hand obediently tucked into her coat pocket, her other hand, bare-naked in the biting, unforgiving cold, held onto her little three-year old sister’s hoodie.
“Mama, I need to hold Meimei’s (little sister) hoodie down to protect her head! The wind is blowing it away!”
I choked, gasping for breath.
Where did she learn this extraordinary, self-sacrificial love. How did she model it with such ease and grace?
As tears filled my eyes, I felt God tell me, “This is what love, in all its radical, self-surrendering glory looks like. Remember this.”
Such is the strength of a 5-year old’s love.
Thank you, Sarah-Faith, for showing Mama what it means to love, truly.