Those words were not spoken by someone who had just won the lottery; or by someone who had just gotten promoted to a coveted position after years of hard work; or by a parent, reconciled to an estranged child after years of waiting, hoping, and praying; but by an 8-year-old bus kid two weeks ago at church, following the children’s Christmas program. With exuberance that could not be contained, he said with all of his little might, “This is the best day I ever had!”
Were his parents there to watch him sing the Christmas carols with the children’s choir? No, nor were any of his family members. Was he excited that he had gotten a chance to be “Joseph” in the annual reenactment of the manger scene? Not so. Or, did he get to play a special musical number on an instrument? Or say two or three lines of a poem by himself? None of the above. It was just that this little bus kid, not used to any special treatment, day in and day out, was part of a Christmas celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ—with songs, mirth, treats, presents, and goodwill spread generously around, to all present. The joy welled up in the little lad’s heart in wave after wave, until he could hold it in no longer, and, finding his teacher, he let it out: “This is the best day I ever had!”
Well, that teacher shared the moment in the midweek prayer and praise service, so that all who were present were touched deeply by the thought that just a bit of love, kindness, and praise spread all around—out of a heart of goodness and thanksgiving to our great God—can make a world of difference to a child who may never see much of God’s grace at home, in the neighborhood, or at school. But in God’s house, on the Lord’s Day, with His people gathered to commemorate the birth of the Savior of the world—well, it was enough on that special Sunday to cause a child to burst forth with, “This is the best day I ever had!”
I am deeply grateful for those bus workers who, over weeks and months, called and cultivated the contact that eventuated in that 2nd grade boy riding the bus to church on that special Sunday. May God increase their tribe in a world where their kind has become almost an oddity!
I am deeply grateful for Sunday School teachers and church-time workers who planned, prepared, and presented a lavish helping of God’s love and grace, kindness, and goodness to every child in attendance on that Sunday, even as they do every Sunday.
For teachers like Shirley and Barb, who showed up for 40 years, Sunday after Sunday, to give God’s Word lovingly to 2nd graders; and Beth—who, for 40 years and counting, has shown up to dole out His love to 2- and 3-year-old little ones, no doubt remembering that Jesus said “Suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
Name after name is flooding this grateful pastor’s mind right now. But of course I cannot begin to list them all. Faithful servants of their Creator Savior, whose lives were so transformed by the Lord Jesus Christ that they have selflessly given themselves to a lifetime of serving Him through serving His, beginning with the littlest and often the least amongst us; so that, on any given Sunday, one of those tykes just might say, “This is the best day I ever had!”
“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom. And whoso’ shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.” (Matt. 18:4,5)
YOU and GOD 