We will continue our summer series on The Women of the Exodus next week, but God placed a story on my heart to share today. The theme is timely because, once again, women find themselves at the crux of doctrinal debates about what they can and cannot do for Jesus.

In my humanity, those debates frustrate and sadden me. I want justice for my sisters in Christ. I don’t want any church to miss out on witnessing God’s good work through His daughters. And, frankly, I have the Biblical research, the words, and the fire in my soul to fight for it.

But God. But God has a different plan for me and for Faithlogue today. In His sovereignty, through the actions of a second-grade girl at Vacation Bible School (VBS), God reminded me what true leadership looks like in His kingdom. So, instead of my viewpoints, I would like to share her story.

This week, I had the opportunity to lead six groups of second and third-graders through missions projects at VBS. I worked as just one of 250 volunteers serving over 900 kids. (I stand amazed every year at the leadership of the women who make it all happen!)

On the last day of VBS, our missions class decorated cards to send to active-duty members of the military. Before we colored the cards, I led the kids in prayer for our military members and invited them to add a silent prayer of their own. Then, I sat down with them and watched as they carefully colored and wrote messages or drew pictures.

During the last class of the week, I sat next to one of the second-grade girls to finish coloring some incomplete cards. She was already the smallest child in the class, but she sat hunched over her card as if she hoped to make herself absolutely invisible among her peers. I didn’t want to disturb her, so we colored silently side-by-side until chaos between two boys on the other side of the room demanded my attention.

As the kids finished coloring their cards, they placed them in a basket and then ran around the room in the frenetic way of most children until their parents arrived to pick them up. In contrast, when this little girl finished her card, she placed it on top of the stack and picked up the whole pile from the basket. She held the pile closely and bent her body over them.

I noticed her actions from across the room and panicked a bit. Did she want to take the cards home? What was she doing? I walked over and said something to her like, “Won’t the soldiers be glad to get these cards?”

She looked up at me and silently opened the card on top. It was hers. The coloring on the card was subdued on the outside, but the inside revealed a brilliant rainbow. It was extravagant and beautiful. I was still worried she wanted to keep her card, so I said, “What a blessing it will be for the person who receives your beautiful artwork!” With that, she closed her card and handed me the stack. I returned them to the basket and walked away.

After leaving, I looked back to see her straighten the stack and resume bending over the basket. Finally, it dawned on me! She wasn’t clinging to the cards; she was hugging them. She wasn’t bent over them in shyness or want; she was praying silently over them!

Amid the chaos around her, this little one prayed for the men and women who would receive a card in the middle of the chaos around them. She seemed so small and delicate on the outside, but her artwork and actions revealed her courageous heart. This child, who seemed to want to be invisible, placed her whole self boldly before the God of Creation to petition His help for others.

Among this second-grade class, several children might become great leaders. The loud and charismatic kids might influence others to follow their vision. The organized and intelligent kids may lead followers to get things done. However, out of all the children in the room, this little girl praying at the basket is the one I would choose to follow in the way of Christlikeness.

You see, her actions exemplify Jesus’s instructions to the disciples recorded in Luke:

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Luke 22:25-28 NIV (emphasis mine)

In a world focused on power, prestige, and authority, Jesus told His followers, “Not so with you.”

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians describes how leadership for Christ-followers should look instead:

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV (empahsis mine)

Christ Himself is the One who calls leaders to equip His people; and His goal is to build us up toward maturity and unity, not to press us downward to become small and divided.

On this day, Christ Himself gave this little one to lead me. She quietly, yet boldly, gave her whole self to the mission God gave her. She seemed subdued on the outside, but her brilliant heart looked just like Jesus. So, when it comes to following Him, this girl kneeling at the basket is the kind of disciple we should all choose to point us toward Christ. That is how it should be with us.

© 2023 Lori Myers Berry