By Guest Writer Shannon Meiers

I stared at my untouched lunch, then at the clock.  How many teenagers took 35 minutes to eat one salami sandwich, one apple, and one cup of Jell-o pudding? Then again, how many teens are distracted by a mob of kids while they try to eat?

Rosie’s pigtails bounced. “Shannon, will you take me to the washroom?” Washroom?  Don’t your parents bathe you at home? I wondered.

Then I remembered… in this day camp in the inner city of Toronto, Canada, the bathrooms were called “washrooms”.

Dan joined in. “Tommy won’t give my hat back!” While I was trying to remember which of these sweet little interrupting cherubs was Tommy, Dan reached a hand into my lunch bag. “Hey, cool Cheetos! Can I have one?”

I was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed. I felt like pointing out the other volunteers to the kids. “Hey, look, there’s Sean, go bug him for a while!” I fought the urge as I realized…

There was a selfish, whiny part of me that wanted to take over. How dare they! It’s not like you came all the way from the states to Canada to be with these kids.

Oh, wait I DID!

Second, there was the Christian love/selfless part of me. You are acting out God’s love to these kids. How good an example of Christ are you being if you’re complaining about what He put you on this earth to do?

Suddenly I realized… Jesus had found time for precious little children… why couldn’t I?

I stood up, rescued Dan’s hat from Tommy, gave Dan the bag of Cheetos, and took Rosie to the washroom for the fifth time that day. Oh, well.

But why did it take me that long to realize my purpose was to help these small kids in small ways?

Jesus didn’t even have to think about it. Nearly every artist’s picture of Jesus shows Him holding a young child… surrounded by other children.

And that’s the difference.  God is Heavenly; I am earthly.

He never gets tired. He never gets hungry. He never gets angry for no good reason.  He never gets overwhelmed. And on that Wednesday, I was all those things at once!

When one of the kids wanted my attention, they had to pretty much wait in line. Not so with God. He gives everyone the same love and uninterrupted affection as if each one was His only child.

So when I talk to my Heavenly Father, I can be sure I won’t have to compete with millions of other people for His love and attention.

How cool is that?

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Shannon is a home-schooled freshman in high school who is deeply passionate about  making a difference for Christ. She was born in a small town near Philadelphia, and in the fifteen years since then, she has lived in three different states. She has enjoyed expressing herself with words since she was eight, and neither her handwriting or her spelling has gotten any better. She currently lives in a very small town, which she enjoys walking through with her dog, Maggie.