The Pill Bottle

I know this is my fourth entry related to our Honduras and Haiti project in the last several weeks but please bear with me. All four have this in common; the focus is on one of our students so each has a different perspective. Several days ago in this last week of the school year, I was walking down our lower school hallway. The classrooms are glass enclosed and when Mrs. Johnson saw me, she gestured. She came to the door and said she had some change for me. I was surprised as we don't start our collection until K-5 and she teaches K-3. But, I never pass up pennies/nickels/dimes/quarters so I stepped into her room. What she gave me was not one of our normal bank bottles, which are a new version every year, or even an older model from years' past. No, it was the pill container you see above filled with an assortment of coins. Mrs. Johnson told me it came from David, a little boy in her class. But that wasn't story- the background of the medicine bottle was. You see, David's mother is from Haiti. She wanted David to be involved as is his brother, Matthew, a WCS first grader.  So, Mom made her son his very own bank bottle and although it looks slightly different than the pale blue version the rest of our students used, it was the most unique receptacle turned in this year or maybe any other year.

I'd like to meet David's (and Matthew's!) mother. I have no idea when she moved to the US or her age at the time. But I'm sure of one thing- she knows the need in her homeland. I spent a week in Haiti so I have a clue.... but she knows. My time in Port-Au-Prince and the surrounding area was life changing....... but I was safe in my nice apartment seven days later. From my brief discussion with Mrs. Johnson, it's evident this mom wants her sons to be compassionate and aware of the importance of helping the less fortunate. Even though David is only three, or maybe four by now, he is being given the best education ever, the one that begins at birth in the home. Jesus told His apostles, when they were chastising Mary for her lavish gift of perfume that, "the poor will always be with you." That's as accurate as any prophecy in the long history of prophecies. Who knows where David's change will go? Food for the kids in the orphanages? School supplies or clothes? Medicine? After all, it came in a pill bottle and Jesus was called the great physician!  As for David? Well, the Biblical version was called a man after God's own heart. Our Kindergarten David has a way to go to be considered a grown up but his mom and dad are putting him on the right track. Big things come in little packages and sometimes pennies can be at least a small prescription in the horrible sickness that is poverty. Someday, David, too, will understand.

Applicable quote of the day:
Poverty is a very complicated issue, but feeding a child isn't. 
Jeff Bridges

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com