Nicole's Cup

I didn't think I would be writing about death so soon, but I wanted to share about Nicole Ford.

Nicole’s cup

One of the teachers told me there had been a tragic bus accident with fatalities and serious injuries. I turned on the news. That’s how I learned that a teenager named Nicole Ford had been killed. At first I just wondered if it had been our little Nicole, but the worst was soon confirmed when they described how this victim had been shot in the face and had a young son. I was in shock, “How could this happen – to Nicole, to the other students – or even at all.” When I got home and I saw Nicole’s cup on the window sill. That’s when the memories came and I was able to cry.

My memories are of a sweet, funny little girl who first came into my life when she was in first grade. Nicole was one of “Linda’s kids.” She rode the van to attend Central and we became her foster parents. Nicole sat with me during worship - sometimes napping on my lap, or snuggling on my shoulder while she practiced writing her name and the words “I love you.”

Over the years she would often come to our house on Sunday afternoons. One of the funniest memories was watching her comb and braid Benjamin’s hair. He was so patient with her. She loved to play with my old dolls while she watched Jurassic Park. We would start the movie, let it run and then take it out when it was time to leave. When she came back the next time, we’d just plug it in wherever we left off the last time.

One day when we dropped her off at home, she ran inside saying she had something for me. All toothless smiles, she presented me with her treasure – a little tea pot and a cup with a broken handle. Now it’s my treasure. I’ve had it sitting out on my window sill for years to remind me of my sweet little Nicole.

Isn’t that just like what we do with God? We present him with our only treasure – the broken cup of our lives. Now we are God’s treasure. He accepts our broken cups and places us lovingly “on his window sill.”

Kathleen