Pixie Dust

Reflections on Isaiah 11:6, Matthew 17:20-21 & Romans 8:28

“… and a little child shall lead them.”

On Tuesday nights youth gather in the basement of my church, in an area we call THE CAVE.  They come to share a meal and to hangout, maybe do homework or play pool or even study the bible. This week some youth came with whole families in tow.  There are many families throughout New Jersey and New York who are still without power as a result Hurricane Sandy.  Tuesday was day eight of no power, no lights, no heat, no technology, for some no water.  Temperatures inside those homes were registering in the 40s.  It was getting old as well as cold. The church was warm though.  Its power had been restored on Friday (day 4).  So our Tuesday night gathering was a chance to warm up, charge phones and iPods and share a meal … in the light!

While many of us were eating manicotti and swapping lights-out stories, seven-year-old Lila was gathering pixie dust.  She had found a handful of old Halloween confetti on the floor of a small storage closet.  She carefully scooped it up without attracting any attention and began quietly handing it out to those seated around the kitchen bar.  When she got to me, she tapped me on the arm and unfurled her hand, inviting me to take a look.  I saw Halloween confetti, but Lila saw pixie dust, magic pixie dust.

She invited me to make a wish, but not at the bar.  I had to sit in a magic chair that she had positioned under a recessed light.  I was not familiar with pixie dust etiquette, so Lila explained that I needed to sit in the magic chair, while she sprinkled the dust on the top of my head.  My job was to silently make a wish.  So I did.  When my wish was made, I shook my head and let the pixie dust fly, then I went back to the bar to finish my dinner.

Lila invited a couple of others to make wishes and it was no mystery what those silent wishes were.  Everyone was wishing for power.  Not magic power or financial power or even political power (it was election night), we were all wishing for electrical power, for life to return to some sense of normal.

“For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Life in the Cave went right back to normal.  Making wishes to satisfy the exuberance of a seven-year-old was fun and cute, but came without expectation or any renewed sense of hope.   We all returned quickly to conversations about generators, gasoline and electric companies and Lila moved on easily too, ditching the pixie dust for a princess puzzle.  But then the cell phones began to ring; first one call, then another.  Power had returned for Michele at her home and then Kira got the call and Kyle.  There was an instant change in mood in the room and all eyes began to turn to Lila.  Silent wishes were revealed, all having been granted via a handful of confetti and the faith of a child.  Call it coincidence or luck or serendipity, whatever your want, but the circumstance and the timing were pretty wonderful.  The only one who was unmoved, who was not surprised, was Lila.  With the nonchalance of certainty, she simply responded to our amazement with the matter-of-fact reasoning of faith; “I told you it was magic.”

Pixie dust and mustards seeds aren’t magic and Halloween confetti can’t turn on the lights, but faith can move mountains.  And faith, it appears isn’t surprised when the mountains move.  Faith expects God to act.  Faith trusts that our hopes and our wishes matter of God.  Faith knows that with God all things are possible.  Faith also frees us to let go, once the wish is made, allowing us to move on to other matters, other puzzles, knowing that our prayers are resting in God’s merciful hands and while all might not be resolved quickly or even exactly as per our request, the assurance that God works all things together for the good is enough.  Faith is the light that makes living in the dark possible.

“We know that all things work together for the good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

   *Please know that this in no way seeks to make light (no pun intended) of those who lost so much more than power as a result of Hurricane Sandy.  There is no magic pixie dust that can bring loved ones back or repair a home that has been swept way by the ocean.  But faith tells us that life does not end with death and the story, our stories are not yet fully written.  God has more to do and we are never without hope that better is on its way.  My prayer for all those who are still suffering is that God will bring good out of loss and frustration … maybe by way of a miracle or a stranger or by the power of community.  May this storm bring out the best in those whose hope is in the Lord.  Amen.