Let me tell you about Little Katie....
And my New Years Resolution for Christ......

     As I sat in the funeral home I watched the different ones as they came in, knowing only my own family members and getting acquainted with my Uncles family as they came to pay their respects. My mother’s sister was married to this man who laid at rest and I had only heard about his children and grandchildren until now. One particular member of his family stood out among them all and that was ‘little Katie’. We’ve watched Katie grow through pictures throughout the years but this was the first time I had met Katie.
     I couldn’t help but watch little Katie, a precious dark haired, dark eyed, dimpled face child as she took on a role far beyond her own childhood years. Katie just turned 6, but you’d never know it as you watched her console almost everyone that walked through the door of the funeral home . I watched Katie as she went to my Aunt, her Meemaw, and stood beside her chair with her little 6 year old arms around her shoulder. My aunt can’t talk because of a stroke years ago but Katie seemed to understand her every need. Katie would look at her and then that sweet dimpled smile would cover Katie’s face as she would so compassionately reach her arms around Meemaw’s neck, hugging her while her little 6 year old hand would be patting and rubbing Meemaw on the back, as if to say, “it’s okay Meemaw, I‘m right here”. I watched this precious child reach her arms out to the adults as they came into the room, both arms towards the ceiling, then she’d wrap them around their waist or hug against their leg giving them a ‘pat’ of reassurance, consoling the pain and sorrow they were feeling. I don’t know where Katie’s family is with the Lord but I know Jesus has to be in her heart, because in Katie was truly the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. She worked her way around that room from one to another, consoling her mother, father, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, but most of all Meemaw who had just lost her husband and Katie acted as if she understood her pain. I felt guilty thinking about ‘little Katie’ and how much she GAVE.... this 6 year old with a heart of gold. On the way home I asked Jesus to give me a heart as big as Katie’s, to fill me with the consoling compassion I saw in that child, and to help me be more like HIM in 2001. That is my prayer for the New Year...to be filled with the compassion of Jesus Christ and ‘little Katie’!!! I pray your resolution for Jesus Christ be answered for this coming year too. In Him,