Two things happened on Tuesday. Two completely different situations that created two different emotions in me. I started my morning smiling because I knew all was how it should be, and I ended my night smiling because I knew things were fitting into place.
Tuesday mornings are my mornings to speak in chapel. It’s a whole 20 minutes where I lead children in worship and then give them a message about Christ. Before this internship I had never spoken to a group larger than ten people. I had never given a sermon or led praise and worship. Now as the veteran intern, I got up in front of 54 elementary school students and had zero butterflies in my stomach. I walked up to the front of the chapel, took the mic, and looked out at all of their faces. There was so much peace in my heart knowing that I was doing what God had called me to do. I was there speaking His truth to these children and nothing scared me. I wasn’t nervous, my throat didn’t dry up, and I spoke for more than five minutes. I knew what I was doing, but more importantly, I enjoyed what I was doing. It’s as if God marked a letter X on the floor, and I was standing right on top of it. It was a feeling of complete and utter contentment that I’ve never felt before. So I smiled.
Later that evening as the interns filled the parsonage living room, we laughed our heads off. Madison looked up foods to feed a baby bird. Tarynn fed the baby bird with tweezers. Jasmine prayed over the bird. Quinton and Brandon provided warm clothes to surround the bird with. I came up with the name Baby B. Then all the inside jokes started forming like a rising cupcake. We made jokes that this was a test of our intern compatibility and how well we could work together. We laughed together at the ridiculousness and seriousness of the situation. We had adopted this baby bird as our very own intern mascot. That night around the table was a “You had to be there” night. It’s not something you can recreate or talk about. It was a night where we were all bonded by a baby bird without feathers. So I smiled.