In my dusty little town, there lives an Earth Angel who morphs from one type of helper to another. It is about her today’s blog is dedicated. To listen to her tell it, she isn’t doing anything special at all. She just ACTS. She sees community needs every day while greeting them with a smile and action. I will call her Bella, (Italian for beautiful, at least according to Google), because she’s that through and through. Let me tell you a few things about her.
Bella was the very first voice I heard say, “Come join us. Our Bible study is just starting.” Walking in 2 minutes before the study was beginning, I’d been praying to God for even one new friend that very morning. It seemed my heart couldn’t beat another day without female connections. My town is no longer my new home. It’s MY home. When you live in a place for two years, it’s time for girlfriends and I was missing the one’s I hadn’t yet met.
That morning, Jesus took my wheel and drove me to a Women’s Fellowship that was just ready to begin. 14 women sat around a big table, ready to study the written word of God. Sometimes, scholars do that. Sometimes, Bible buffs do that. But, in this room, 14 Christian women sat ready to improve their relationship with the trinity. There was power radiating from that room on that very day.
From the first “Hello”, Bella has been a bundle of energy and love. She’s a quiet woman, showering praise onto others. She is the first to find kind things to share with everyone in the room. It’s obvious she is directing her own life by doing it her way. She’s careful in choosing how she will spend her time, a part of life we can’t renew.
In her former time life, she worked in the movie industry while traveling the world. As she tells the story, one day that lifestyle wasn’t enough. In fact, one day, she couldn’t do her job the next. She needed something more in her life. Can you imagine the strength it took to give up glamor, travel, and the A-List? Well, come to think of it, it at least took courage to change a life that wasn’t filling her heart.
Over a few decades, she decided on a different kind of life. Today she runs a food ministry on very little of her own money. Every week, she feeds about 600 people in our community. No, not 6 or 60. 600. Could YOU do that? WOULD YOU if you could? Out of the back of the church, she boxes donated food, from perishables to cans. From soup to nuts. She feeds the hungry. They walk from the river. They come from under the bridge. Some come from their own kitchen, where the weekly paycheck was sucked dry by the rising cost of gas to get to work. They call and she meets them at the church sharing her trademark smile. That beautiful Bella smile.
Bella does work as a trainer of nurses and doctors. She finds time to keep a gorgeous yard, immaculate home, and thriving garden. She always looks as if she could be the center model for a fashion layout. Even when she wears jeans and a hoodie, she makes sure her hair is swirled just so and her lipstick applied.
She just shared that, recently, she saw another need. It seems a family of Littles had moved into the neighborhood and they were causing grief to the quiet elders. These little children hadn’t had too many examples of NICE and RESPECTABLE in their life. There was a ring leader. I can’t share his real name, as unusually adorable as it is. I’ll just call him Remington, because when she met him, he was ready to go off just like the gun.
Remington loved expressing himself with his middle finger, or worse, shouting greetings not blog approved. He and his little followers were well on the way to forming a pack when Bella stepped in and became the neighborhood “Grandma Bella”. Calling the wayward little munchkins to her front step, she held their first meeting and schooling, Bella-Style.
“I am Grandma Bella. I run the show around these parts. If you need food, water, a cookie, some ice cream, a hug, or a listening ear, you WILL knock POLITELY on my door to POLITELY ask me if I have time, and I’ll get you whatever you need. We will have NO hand gestures or bad words. We WILL be respectful and kind. This is how we WILL behave at Grandma Bella’s house and in OUR neighborhood. UNDERSTOOD????”
I can only imagine the look on their faces. She was offering safety, love, friendship, and a cookie on top of that. All for just acting civilized. What a deal!
Since that day, Grandma Bella is growing her Child Development ministry, as well. This is one busy woman. On any given day you’ll find her feeding the hungry, schooling the community children, being the best sister in Christ, all while running an AirBnB AND working two jobs.
Bella is on my list of Earth Angels I’ve met this summer. There are 14 of them that swirl around my town helping others in their own quiet ways. I know them, because I worship with them on Sunday and study with them on Thursday. It’s them that will help me get through my 185 days of teaching this year. It’s them that will help me find laughter on rough days and God at times when I think he might have stopped listening. Bella is just the first one about which I’m writing.
When Bella shared the details about her latest endeavor, she looked around the room and said, “All of you can be a Grandma, too. Look around. Is there trash in your neighborhood? Are the kids acting out? Somedays we need to step up and help. The world needs the love of more Grandmothers. BE ONE.”
Bella. What an inspiration she is in my life. Because of her, I now shop before Bible study, because the food pantry always needs bread, eggs, and meat. I feel so blessed to be a part of her ministry. Her love for others has washed right over me, inspiring me to do something to help. She is an example true Christian love all wrapped up in a beautiful human being.
That should plant some seeds for today. Think about your own strengths and calling and then get to work. There are 24 hours in a day. We can all sleep when we’re dead.
Have a great Saturday!
More tomorrow.