EPISODE 8: LILY'S THIRD WORD
483 Words
Tuesday, 7:00 PM.
Grace Church Basement, Cedar Falls, Iowa.
14 chairs this time. Not 12.
Ana sat in the circle. Maya on her left. Robert on her right. Day 7 sober. Elder Ruth in the back with tea bags. Emma beside her.
New face: Sarah. 30s. Tired. And Lily. 8 years old. Non-verbal autistic. Noise-canceling headphones. Rocking in the corner.
"Thanks for coming,"
Ana said.
"This is a safe room. You don’t have to talk. You can just be."
One by one, people shared.
Maya: "Day 9. Still hard."
Robert: "Day 7. Court in 2 weeks."
Elder Ruth: "I’m here for my granddaughter."
Then Sarah spoke. Voice shaking.
"This is Lily. She’s 8. Non-verbal. Last night she had a meltdown at dinner. Threw her plate. My husband said maybe church isn’t the place for her."
Sarah looked down.
"I’m sorry. She’s... a lot."
No one spoke. Lily kept rocking. Flapping her hands.
Ana looked at Lily. Didn’t move closer. Didn’t force eye contact.
"Hey Lily,"
she said softly.
"You don’t have to talk. You don’t have to be anything. You can just be here."
20 minutes passed. People kept sharing. Robert talked about calling his sponsor. Maya talked about not singing.
Then Lily stopped rocking.
The room got quiet.
Lily looked up. Past her headphones. Straight at Ana.
And she said three words. Clear.
"God sees me."
Sarah gasped. Both hands over her mouth.
"Lily... baby..."
Lily went back to rocking. Like nothing happened.
Sarah was crying now. Not sad tears.
"Ana,"
she whispered.
"That’s her third word. Ever. The first two were ‘mama’ and ‘no.’ She’s never said a sentence. She’s never looked at someone like that."
Ana felt tears on her own face.
"Psalm 139:7-10,"
she said.
"‘Where can I go from your Spirit? If I go to the depths, you are there.’ Lily was in the depths. And He was there."
Sarah pulled Lily into her lap. Lily didn’t pull away. She leaned in.
"I brought her because I was out of options,"
Sarah whispered.
"I thought people would stare. Or tell me to take her to children’s church."
Elder Ruth spoke from the back.
"We don’t do that here,"
she said.
"Here, we just sit."
Robert nodded.
"Day 4, someone sat with me. Day 7, I’m sitting with you. That’s how this works."
Maya looked at Lily.
"I stopped singing because I was lying,"
she said.
"Maybe Lily doesn’t have to sing to be true."
The meeting ended. People filed out. Sarah stayed behind with Lily.
"Ana,"
Sarah said.
"Thank you. For not making her perform. For not making her normal."
Ana knelt by them.
"You don’t have to be normal to be loved,"
she said.
"You just have to be."
Sarah hugged Lily tighter.
"We’ll be back next Tuesday."
14 chairs.
We’re not fixing people.
We’re just making room for God to see them.
- Writer
