Grateful Doesn’t Feel Big Enough

Sunday was our children’s pastor’s last Sunday with us, and I’ve been sitting with it ever since.

For the past three years I’ve had the privilege of helping her with the kids program — assisting with Sunday school, showing up for Wednesday evening kids’ fun, volunteering with the annual VBS, observing Aria participate in the many fun events she planned, watching her build something real for our kids week after week. She has this way of making every single kid feel like they’re the most important person in the room, and anyone who’s spent five minutes around her knows exactly what I mean.

Aria adores her. Genuinely, unreservedly adores her. On her last Sunday, Aria wrote her a thank you card — no prompting from me, she just wanted to. That’s the kind of impact this woman has had, not just on the adults who work alongside her but on the littlest ones in that room every week.

But this isn’t just about ministry, even though that’s where it started. Somewhere along the way she became a real friend. We’ve been meeting up every couple of weeks to catch up, and those conversations turned into so much more than small talk. A few months ago, when I was going through something incredibly hard, she was one of the people who helped me process it — sat with me in it, didn’t try to fix it or rush me through it, just showed up. That’s not something you forget.

She’s moving to be closer to her parents, which is exactly the kind of decision I’d want anyone I love to make. I’m happy for her, genuinely. It’s just going to be strange not having her running the kids program, or on the other end of those every-other-week catch ups.

Church, and my life, are better for the three years she was here. Grateful doesn’t feel like a big enough word, but it’s the one I’ve got.