Heartfelt Tears and a Lesson in Charity

Note: Pics are from previous events. I wasn’t present last night, and I don’t think they’d be as smiley.

So last night my sister, Jessica, took her 4-year-old daughter, Bella, to her quilt guild meeting. This is the first meeting of the new year, so they did their annual “Quilto” (Bingo with prizes being quilt items). Members of the guild normally clean out their sewing rooms and bring extra items, so magazines, fabric and sewing notions filled the prize table. But this year there was one extra item–a Little People Christmas Sleigh with 3 Little People figurines. It was the only child’s toy on the 4 prize tables.

So Jess and Bella settled down with the other 30 people to play Bingo. Bella had her eye on that sleigh, and she was hoping to win it soon. She had her own card, and won within the first 10 minutes or so. Only a few people won before she did.

“(Sob) It’s . . . (gulp) gone. (gulp) There’s (sob) no prize (sob) for me.” She wasn’t crying in a spoiled brat way, she was honestly sad and heartbroken. Jess tried to console her but to no avail. She sat and visibly sobbed for a while.

Ten minutes pass, no toy. A few of the quilt guild women heard her crying and tried to retreive the toy. A guest of another member had won it, and she was dead set on giving it to her grandchild (who was not at the meeting).

Jess tried to win a few times so she could get something else for Bella. To no avail.

Crying is still continuing. So Jess & Bella decide to petition this woman for the sleigh. “Nope, I’m giving it to my granddaughter,” she said, with her nose turned up.

Bella left dejected. Jessica won a few pieces of fabric, which she promised to use to make Bella a new dress or two.

So on the way home, They are talking about what happened. First they said a prayer for the woman. As they drove to the store to buy a new prize just for Bella, they discussed reasons why this woman would keep the toy.

“Maybe her granddaughter is sick and needs a toy to cheer her up,” Jess offered. “Or maybe the little girl doesn’t have any toys at all.”

“I’d be sad if I had no toys, Momma,” Bella said.

Jess had to carry Bella into the store, as she’s still crying and needing love. They picked out a mini-piano and a ring pop for Bella, and drove home.

Twenty minutes later, Bella was rounding up a pile of her toys.

“Well, if the little girl doesn’t have toys, maybe she’d want this one? Or maybe this one? I’ll give her some of my toys.”

“Wait, maybe she has a brother, and he needs some toys too. Would he like this car? Would he want this toy? How about a book? Maybe they have no books to read. I have a nice book about chameleons and another one about caterpillars.”

Jess told Bella, “I’m not sure where the little girl lives.”

Bella, with all the faith in the world, said, “Well, Mommy, call her!”

I had been praying to learn more about charity. Bella taught me the lesson my heart needed to hear. We can learn alot from this little 4 year old.