The Flower - a parable

            The summer season had been hotter than previous years.  The heat had beat down on the earth in harsh burning waves.  And then the rains had come with what seemed like hurricane force on the small flower in the garden bed.  The roots of the small flower had almost been washed out of the dirt as it streamed away in wide rivers of rushing currents.  It seemed like wide rivers of currents to the small flower who was holding on with a desperate nature to any dirt it could manage to keep. 

And so what seemed like a harsh season of summer finally subsided into fall with cooler temperatures.  The sky began to soften and so did the dirt.  The flower settled into the garden and began to finally grow and prosper.  Buds began to sprout.  The color of the flower began to turn vibrant shades of orange in coordination with the season of thankfulness.  The flower and all the adjoining buds reached toward the heavens and to the sun in praise and adoration each morning. 

Then one day, the earth began to grow nearby.  It seemed to grow from underneath and to be pushed upward from the depths below.  The flower stared in amazement as the dirt pushed higher and outward.  Suddenly, the dirt began to move.  No, it wasn’t the dirt.  It was small creatures coming out of the earth and crawling all over the ground nearby and very close to the flower.  The flower began to panic unnecessarily.  What is the point of panic when you can’t actually do anything about it?  

Now more quickly than the mound of earth had appeared, the small creatures began to pour out of it and climb to the top reaches of the flower.  A feeling of complete helplessness overcame the flower who then turned to the heavens and pleaded with the life-giving sun for help and preservation. 

            With the flower’s intent focus on the plea of supplication, the gardener went unnoticed as He carefully and strategically attacked the Enemy at the core of the mound.  The small creatures began to retreat, to cease their violent attack, and to quit their existence.  In a day or two the mound of earth was resettled into the garden just as it had been before, and everything was returned to right. 

            The flower continued to follow the sun from early in the morning toward the east and all the way to the west in the evening by raising its petals upward in gratitude and by training the buds to do likewise.  

#ATD2016 The Event

On the night of the event, 30 ladies and girls gathered in a local town with our camo and crowns! The anticipation was overwhelming as this was the largest event so far.  Previous years had numbered 18-20 ladies.  Even that number humbles me.  How did we reach 30? 

A friend of mine at church asked if her daughter could come because she had expressed interest.  Another lady brought her daughter last year.  I mulled it over briefly and thought, why not?  I don’t go into details on the night of the event about the atrocities of human trafficking.  My personal children know that there are illegal slaves in our country and home state.  They know some things, but they don’t yet need to know all at the tender ages of elementary school children that they are.  And so the invitation was extended to the daughters of the ladies who were invited.  Thus we reached a grand total of 30 plus ladies and girls at the event this year. 

We started our night at a local hunting mega-store with a friendly competition at the kids’ arcade shooting range.  Yes, the ladies played the game.  I handed out quarters freely to the kids to play round after round, 20 shots for fifty cents.  Friends arrived and changed into the shirt for the evening.  Some found camo shirts or pants of their own.  We were a sea of green camo and sparkle! 

New friends after shooting competition.

We moved our party over to a local home cookin’ eatery.  Honestly, I think we overwhelmed them with our size, but I wanted to eat there for my birthday by golly!  We had three waitresses plus a few others helping out between all the tables we occupied.  I got the tip jar out, and people grabbed it right away.  We’ve done this a few times and I only had to explain it to a few.  The tip jar represents who we are, not the service we get.  Although, the service was really good!  I made the presentation at the end of the meal with a little speech about what we were doing.  The ladies were very appreciative, and there was applause all around. 

Every year I tell the story of the ladies that come together for this.  I’ll see if I can approach this task this year.  There are several overlapping groups of friends that come from all over the state of Texas.  Donations even came from as far away as Georgia! 

This year, I was particularly excited to have the original group of tiara loving friends back together in the same place with our sparkle on top!  This concept started when I worked in Smithville, and there are several ladies who come every year from that area, but one has been missing.  Shannon made it this year with Alicia and me to complete our trio.  It was the two of them that gave me my first crown.  It was with them that I developed this crazy need to display my royalty.  Thank you, Shannon and Alicia! 

Moving on with the group of teachers, there were several local Lockhart teachers who go to local churches other than mine and mine as well.  We all work to serve our community and share the love of Christ in our classrooms.  I love working with these ladies.    

That group of teachers overlaps the group of ladies that attend worship with me every Sunday morning.  I am very humbled by the number of ladies representing our congregation that join me every year.  This time, the event fell on the same evening as our church garage sale.  I know one mom in particular plays a huge role in that event, but she came to the ATD with both of her daughters for the very first time this year.  Thank you, Tara.  We also had several newbies from church attend: Liz, Liz, and Jennifer.  No, that was not a typo.  There were two ladies named Liz.  One just moved here from Arizona and jumped into this crazy group with both feet! 

My church wasn’t the only one represented.  My town wasn’t the only town.  My school wasn’t the only school.  Women from all over this state are coming together to acknowledge the problem of slavery.  Collectively we come together and take a stand to say that we are not ok with it.  And we are doing something about it! 

Thank you , Bonnie, Skylar, Liz, Lilly, Rebekah, Liz, Jennifer, Tara, Emily, Marion, Suzanne, Shannon, Alicia, JoAnne, Deidra, Patricia, Stacy, Jennifer, Sherry, Joy, Diana, Tanya, Jenna, Gale, Alex, Shelby, Courtney, Macy, Lora, and Taylor.  Thank you for coming that evening.  And thank you to all the other amazing people who donated and were not able to come that night.  We raised $1326!  

#ATD2016 The Plan

There are several aspects which have developed as part of an ATD.  Fundraising, theme, and location.

Every year, I try to think of different ways to collect money.  This year, I had two ideas. 

First, I created a poster with sticky notes that numbered from 1 to 45.  I asked my friends to pick a number and donate that amount.  $45 isn’t too much to ask anyone one person.  People picked numbers that represented different things.  One lady pick 13 because it was her favorite number.  I reminded her that 2013 was also the first year that she started attending the ATD which made that number special to me for her.  Another young lady picked 14 because that is how old she is.  Another lady said she wanted to give $200, so she picked numbers that added up to the amount she wanted to give.  Another lady picked a number based on her favorite Scripture. 

Second, a friend at a local t-shirt company worked with me to create a design for the event.  The design begins with a cross of three nails representing the price that Jesus paid for us when he died.  Because of this price that is already paid in full for our sins, we can be accepted in the royal family of the king.  Romans 6:23 tells us that we have the gift of eternal life because of what Christ did for us.  Ephesians 1:5 says that God wants to adopt us into His family.  Romans 8:17 says, “If children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” That’s why the tiara is part of the picture.  The nails and the crown go together.  They must. The crown cannot exist without the nails. To go with the camo theme, the shirts were army green with silver print.  I was amazed how many shirts were ordered.  Last year there were only about 20 people that came to the dinner.  This year, 35 people wanted shirts.  I ordered a few extra and am distributing them also. 

The sticky notes were more successful in raising more money even if not all of the sticky notes were selected.  The t-shirts were certainly fun to do and did raise a portion of the goal, but not as much as just pure donations.  The pictures of the event were certainly awesome with everyone matching. 

The theme always develops out of a personal struggle or desire that I have toward issues in my own life or related to the ministry to which we donate.  Last year’s Super Hero Princess was certainly a desire that I had to help rescue the ladies out of trafficking.  This year, I have been personally soaking in Scripture about spiritual warfare.  A camo themed party seemed only appropriate.  I need to be more diligent in sharing where my ideas originate. 

Finally, the location was based on and related to the theme.  Because it was camo which could be interpreted as army or hunting, we went to a local hunting sports mega store to play at the kids shooting arcade.  You could say that we were either hunting down the bad guys or gathering the troops to fight the enemy.  Both would be correct.  And what do soldiers and hunters want for dinner?  Home cooking!  And we loaded up and headed to the quintessential home cooking restaurant next door for just such a thing.