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The United Methodist Church in Mission By Merrillyn McNary, a United Methodist missionary who serves with the Amity Foundation in Nanjing, China, teaching at the Jiangsu Institute of Education
Last fall, Caroline, a second-year student at the Jiangsu Institute, came to my apartment for her third conference about her term paper. These half-hour sessions with Chinese students who are writing their first term paper in English have been an invaluable means of improving their skills in written and spoken English. Toward the end of the conference, Caroline began to speak more slowly and sadly. She asked if she could tell me something private. She had received a phone call from her mother saying that her grandfather had been diagnosed with cancer and was in a special hospital for seriously ill people in Shanghai. Being very close to her grandpa, who had lived with her family a long time, she wanted to go to him immediately. But she couldn't leave because of her responsibilities at the school. At the beginning of the semester, she had been invited to take a position in the Youth League, for which she was very proud. All semester she had diligently carried out her responsibilities and had been praised for her work. During December, the Youth League was to hold a two-week-long Arts Festival. As a Youth League member, Caroline had to make preparations and assume responsibility. She couldn't get permission to go home, and she was afraid her grandpa would die before she could see him again. Then God sent me to the kitchen to get half a glass of water. I set it in front of Caroline and asked: "Is the glass half full or half empty?" She smiled. "Half full, I think," she said. "See," I told her, "you will concentrate on all that you have and not worry about what you don't have." I watched as her face opened up, her smile grew big, and her shoulders relaxed. "Really?" she said. "Thank you, thank you!" As she gathered her papers to go, she said thank you a least 20 more times--all the way out the door and down the steps. A month later, she called to tell me that she was at home with her grandpa, who was doing much better. "Thank you so much for caring about me...just for caring," she stammered, missing the words she sought but not the meaning. It's moments like this that make a difference in the world--a loving difference in God's plan for us and everyone we touch. |
