"Sensitivity" was the star word I disappointingly picked out of the basket and thought, "Oh nuts, I'm already sensitive enough because thick skinned I'm not." So because we tend to learn by example, I tried to remember the first time I had experienced sensitivity, and it was right here at Covenant.

I was a foster kid, about 5, and they would drop me off at Covenant's Sunday School. Like the Maya Angelou quote, I don't remember what the teacher said or what she wore, but I still remember how she made me feel - that this was a safe and warm place, and where I learned a little song called "Praise Him, Praise Him, All Ye Little Children, God is Love, God is Love." There was something bigger and wiser and kinder than that mean man back in the house. I'll never know if that teacher knew the impact her sensitivity had on me but in recalling yet again my childhood feelings, I became more aware this year of not letting people off the hook when they said "I'm fine" and their faces said otherwise.

"God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God and God abides in them." ~1 John 4:16

~ Portia Miles Smith