When The World Feels Overwhelming

What do you do when the world feels overwhelming? When bad news crushes your spirit and you almost forget a loving God truly is in control. That’s when we need the good news stories. About the real things that keep this world turning in spite of everything.

And that’s why I thought of my little prayer bear of long ago.

It was just a little plushy bear, resembling every other stuffed bear you see in every home.

He sat wherever you put him, beside you on your desk; on your bedside table, or a shelf of your bookcase. Mine sat on the treadle of a vintage Singer sewing machine, as part of my family room décor, and only the bear and I knew how special he was.

He didn’t look extraordinary, but he was was right there, holding his little paws as if to give you a hug, with a little message hanging by a ribbon.

The message said he was just a little prayer bear, ready to remind you when you were sad, or blue, or needing a lift,

that he was there for you. And that the person who gave you the bear loved you and was praying for you.

My special Prayer Bear and the boy who made it.

What made the bear extra special to me, in the years after he came to live with me,

was that a young boy, about 12 years old, made the bear.

The boy was an ordinary boy, too. I had a boy his age. My friend had a boy his age. Lots of 12 year old boys around.

But this boy, among all those 12 year old boys, wanted to make prayer bears so people could buy them. For themselves, if they needed the message, or to give away to someone else who needed to know someone was praying for them.

So maybe that makes him an extraordinary 12 year old boy. Because none of the other boys were making prayer bears, or thinking about people who might need prayers. They were too busy playing football and baseball, riding their bikes up ramps to catch some air, or gobbling Ranch Doritos and telling tall stories with their friends.

All I know is, that bear became even more special to me a few years later, when the boy who made him went to heaven. I don’t know why God wanted that 16 year old boy, with his brand new driver’s license and a promising future ahead of him. What I do know is that boy was part of heaven before he ever left us. A boy whose favorite song is “I’m on the Winning Side” and the boy everyone wanted as their waiter at the local diner.

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This post isn’t a very long one, or a very special one.

It’s just a ramble about seemingly ordinary people who actually do extraordinary things.

People this world needs right now as wars and rumors of wars fly rampant around the globe. As hurting people lash out with guns in schools and churches and shopping malls.

People who are right beside us as we worry about stock market crashes and gas prices. People quietly doing their little bit to bring comfort and calm to those around them.

Women who have sewing circles to make blankets to donate. Girls who sell 31, or Lemongrass, or Young Living Oils and work extra hard so they can earn donations for cancer patients or Ukrainian refugees.

Men who take their child’s schoolteacher’s car to have the oil changed and buy new tires for it on their own dime.

And 12 year old boys who make prayer bears. Because somewhere I believe, there is one, or more, boy or girl, doing something to make their world a better place.

And because of the small few, who do small things in small ways,

God gives hope to many in big ways.

Because small stones make big ripples.