What child is this? When a child is born, no human eye can foresee what challenges and triumphs, what gifts and what hardships that life will encounter. More than 104 years ago, a girl was born two months prematurely on a South Dakota farm. Though it was late July, her family had to put her in the oven to keep her warm. They were so sure she would die that her first clothing was a funeral dress and it was in a small coffin that they kept her in the oven. Little Vera survived, but her mother died when she was four and her father when she was eight. At few points in her early life would anyone have imagined that Vera would begin serving in mission at age 20, would leave the mission field for good more than four decades later, and then would live another 43 years (and counting) after that.

Who would have guessed that her parents’ deaths would open the door to her life in mission, since it was the aunt and uncle who raised her who instilled in her their love of God and the church? Or that the leader of the Bible study she joined would have a son — a seminarian while she was still in high school — who believed God had chosen her for his wife, and who asked her to marry him and join him in mission after her first year of college?

While our destiny lies hidden from our own eyes, it is up to us to listen for our call and to follow it faithfully. Vera was fortunate in that early on she heard a call to mission, and so did the man she fell in love with. For many people, the call is more difficult to discern. When we give to the Christmas Joy Offering, our gifts support the racial ethnic schools and colleges where many young people are doing that listening with all their hearts. When a call draws people into serving the church, it often means they will earn less than they would in other careers. This means they must learn to live simply, but it also may mean that they have no nest egg to guard against the surprises of life. When those occur, they must rely on the rest of us to help them meet their needs. And our gifts to the Christmas Joy Offering do that as well — supporting the assistance programs of the Board of Pensions in meeting chronic and one-time needs of people who have dedicated their lives to serving the church.

Because Vera Ainley and her family learned to depend on prayer, they were much freer to follow God’s call without worrying how they would manage the details. They were free to give of themselves unstintingly, knowing that they would be buoyed up by the God of abundance. May their example inspire us today to give generously to support the Christmas Joy Offering.

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