PeopleWatching: Baby Sister Lessons

Welcome to a new series, which, like all the other series thingies I start here in TW'sW, may die on the vine with the very first one. Good intentions, bad followthrough.

This series is about people in my life that I observe and who have a special place in my walk of faith, even if I neglect to tell them that. So here's where I tell them. Of course, I try to disguise them a bit, to protect the innocent. He or She who has ears, let them get piercings if that's how they roll.

So...

There's someone I call Baby Sister... she isn't actually my sister, although in faith she is indeed. So I guess she is, even though she isn't.

Got that?

I don't actually have a sister, although I do have one since the Proofreader came with one pre-installed, so therefore when Herself and I dun got hitched, well, I instantly had a sister.

Whom I love a lot, for the record. I call her Sis, she calls me Bro, and I hope I earn that title - I try to, because I love her dearly.

Love ya, Sis. You were the first one, and always are.

Anyway, Baby Sister works someplace that is near and dear to my heart, and so I see her once in a while. We are friends - it astonishes me that she'll even admit that in public - and I find her amazing.

Why? I'm so glad you asked, because otherwise I'd just have to hit the * key for another few hundred words, hoping that I'll find something to fill in the empty space later.

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See? There I go again.

By the way, in case you needed a reminder, refer back to The Girl In The Coffee Shop to read my views on old guys scoping out young fillies. Just so we're clear. Baby SISTER. Just sayin'.

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Where was I? Oh yeah...

So here's some of the things I appreciate about Baby Sister:

1) She reminds me of what fire and zeal and love for God and His truth look like in real life. It's wonderful to see someone so in love with God and His work in their life that it radiates in every part of everything they do or say.

(I have a few people who show me that, and some of them will be coming to this series in the days ahead. Hopefully... As I said, good intentions, bad followthrough.)

2) She has a huge, loving heart for everyone, everywhere. I've seen her greet snitty customers, I've seen her greet smiling, enthusiastic customers, I've seen her greet flatlined customers in the middle of a 'meh meh' kind of day, actually getting a smile out of them with her gentle, gracious spirit. She shows every one of them the same caring love that she lives at all times.

3) She works hard at living the Micah 6:8 rule - and she challenges me to make strides of my own in that direction.

4) She seeks justice, and her heart breaks for the downtrodden, the lost, and the lonely. She truly knows how to shine like a light in a dark world.

Which can lead to...

5) She is sometimes impatient with others who don't share her clear vision of God's economy - seeing how we get so caught up in our petty "first world concerns" without considering the huge need for mercy and justice in third world nations. She has a heart for the world.

However...

6) Refer back to #2 to see how God is tempering that clear vision for world needs with love for those around her, even when she doesn't understand how they can seem so blind to suffering. She loves at all times.

(She sometimes lovingly accuses me of only challenging her on #5, without considering #2. Nope - I just like seeing her squirm as she considers the possibility that there's some nugget of truth in all those Doggie Exhaust Pellets I tend to lay down around her with my usual twisted sense of humor. That's how I roll...)

(See, Baby Sister? I do get it. But I reserve the right to continue to mess with your head. Just ask the Proofreader - she's had to put up with it for 30-something years now.)

So, why do I think everyone should have a baby sister or brother in their walk of faith? 

Simple - because their views, unencumbered with years of dogma, tradition, or complacency can help awaken our own fire. Or at the very least, can remind us of how very far we might have strayed from the freshness of when we first fell in love with Jesus. They can remind us of who we really are...

Children in the hands of our Father, who loves all His kids.

Thanks, Baby Sister. You make me smile.