In church on Sunday Fran and I met a beautiful little spirit named MacKenzie. She is four years old. We often marvel at the lessons that can be learned from very young children. If we are open and observe little children closely they often help us to reaffirm some life principles of great importance. That is precisely what MacKenzie did for us today.
This Sunday was our annual Children’s Bell Choir Recital. The recital is a cherished tradition in our Christmas calendar. This event features a performance by some of the youngest children in our congregation and this year Mackenzie played the yellow bells.
The recital got off to a beautiful start. MacKenzie was ringing her bells with great enthusiasm and joy. Then the unexpected happened. MacKenzie experienced a major equipment malfunction. One of her bells lost its clapper. MacKenzie looked quizzically at her broken bell but immediately realized what she needed to do. The clapper had dropped off the platform in front of her so she climbed down the steps, retrieved the clapper, climbed back to her seat and fixed her bell. She kept on ringing!
Wow! What a mature response from a four year old. No tears! No looks of discouragement – just a quiet resolve to fix her bell and make music. She would not be deterred.
But not so fast – it happened again. The clapper flew off of her bell. Undaunted, MacKenzie went down the steps, retrieved the clapper, climbed back to her seat and fixed her bell. She kept on ringing!
Unbelievably, shortly after that – her bell broke for the third time. With a look of resignation and with great determination MacKenzie went down the steps, retrieved the clapper, climbed back to her seat and fixed her bell. She kept on ringing!
Our Pastor read her plight and offered MacKenzie a new bell. She accepted graciously and with a renewed enthusiasm finished the recital with great flair and joy. She even added some unique bell ringing techniques, dance steps and a couple of shouts of joy. Most importantly, she kept on ringing her bell!
We will always remember The Lesson from MacKenzie the Bell Ringer. No matter what happens, fix it as best you can – and keep on ringing your bell!
Thank you, MacKenzie!
