...our budding activist...

This afternoon Barry, Joelle and I met some dear friends for lunch at Chick-fil-A. After eating, Joelle and her friends went into the play area and played for quite some time. When it was time to leave, it was brought to my attention that Joelle was up in one of the tubes crying. My friend's son told us Joelle wasn't hurt, but that another child (someone we didn't know) had yelled at her causing her to cry.

Joelle later explained that this young girl had thrown a piece of trash on the floor of the play area in a hard to reach spot. Joelle gently told the girl that she should've thrown the trash in the proper place so as to keep our "environment" clean. The girl disagreed, because it wasn't "her" trash, and she didn't care what Joelle thought about it. Joelle and the girl commenced to arguing about the situation until the girl finally yelled, "You're not the boss of me!" Not only was Joelle upset that the girl had yelled at her, but she was also sad that the girl didn't care about our environment.

After Joelle shared all this with Barry and I, she was quiet for a time and finally said, "I should've told her about Jesus. I'm going to be a Missionary that cleans up our environment and helps animals. I want to help our earth."

I thought it was really neat that Joelle seemed to recognize our spiritual needs in relation to our actions towards our earth. Maybe she didn't actually come to THAT conclusion, but it's what I took from the conversation. :) Isn't it SO true that our relationship with Jesus influences every decision we make!? What we believe about Jesus guides our choices - big choices, small choices, every day choices. If we don't see Jesus as Loving, Caring, All-Knowing, Trustworthy, Creator God, etc... we will not care about others, we will worry in our circumstances, we will fear the unknown, and we will have no care for His precious creations.

And, if we don't see Jesus as needed Savior we will not recognize our sin, turn from it and repent. Jesus says in Matthew 10:32-33, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven."

As she matures, Joelle will learn tact and discretion in sharing her opinions with others, but I certainly see the Lord leading her to be bold for Jesus; not just our environment! :)