lessons from samantha

about every week, i get an hour with one of the most precious people i've ever gotten to hang out with. her name is samantha. she's 9 years old & has downs syndrome. i am her "helper" at church. the lessons from that hour are endless & most likely ones that i'll continue to learn over & over again. since i've been spending time with samantha, the 20 minute drive on a saturday afternoon has been transformed from a leisurely drive to an earnest time of prayer. i long for each moment i spend with her to be wonderful for her & i must plead for Jesus to do that because without Him i got nothing to offer.

samantha comes to about my shoulders, towering above the other kids her age. she is also probably double their size & i have come to believe double the fun as well. she is amazingly flexible & her favorite way to sit is on the ground with legs out in front of her & her chest actually laying directly on her tennis shoes. each week when i arrive, i walk up the stairs to the children's "wing" of our large church & samantha is sitting on the hallway floor, leaning against the wall or against her tennis shoes, with her backpack on, holding her purple puffy jacket, waiting for my direction. i tap her on the shoulder & say hello. she looks up, smiles with squinty eyes & huge beautiful cheeks & gives a loud "hi!" as she waves with joy & begins the process of standing up. samantha essentially rolls over to stand up, and it's seems sort of an ordeal, but only if you're not samantha. when anyone is around they attempt to help her & she honestly looks at them as though they are crazy, as if she is saying inside "seriously? i got it & it's much easier without you". the standing is only a glimpse into her independence & spirit & character & beauty.

the format for kids at our church is a large group session of singing & skits & learning followed by breaking into small groups to further discuss the lesson. samantha occasionally sings the songs & occasionally listens to the lesson. when she doesn't feel like participating, she just lays on her stomach quietly as if she is waiting on something worth her attention. last night the lesson was on following Jesus. the skit showed a woman copying every move of a man on stage. he yawned, she yawned. he put on his cap, she put on her cap. you get the idea. when the skit was over, the man came back on stage for some crowd interaction. he asked everyone to raise there hands if there was a person in their lives that they wanted to be like. a room full of 1st, 2nd, & 3rd graders shot up their hands, each longing for their moment of fame, their time in the spotlight, when the leader would call on them & the entire room would listen to what they had to say. samantha & i were sitting in the back & after a few moments of the hand-raising & the leader calling on a few kids, samantha's hand shoots up. now, i'm fairly certain that prior to this moment samantha didn't know what question had been asked or even that a question had been asked. but, just like every other kid in that room, she wanted her fame. her left hand was high in the air & her right hand pulled with great force on the sleeve of the raised left hand. the leader continued to call on kids. samantha continued to shake her hand in the air & say under her breath, "me, me". then, as if in slow motion, the leader's eye caught samantha's hand & he pointed for her to answer. a room full of little faces turned & saw her hand raised. there was a long silent pause, as if samantha was contemplating her answer and the kids were in great suspense. then, she let out some gibberish. no real words, no real sentences, but something tells me it made perfect sense to her. the leader was thrown off a bit & slightly perplexed & eventually said, "great". in an instant he was on to the next kiddo. but the interaction wasn't over for samantha. as soon as the word "great" came out of his mouth, she pulled one fist into her chest & said "YES!". then, she pulled both of her fist in to her chest & said "I DID IT! I DID IT!" with that huge smile, and the squinted eyes & the big cheeks. fame. accomplishment. joy. her enthusiasm was contagious & my heart fluttered with excitement for her. i don't know if i've ever seen anyone as happy as that.

we should all be a lot more like samantha.