Kirsten Marie Frances Nowak is that girl you noticed when you picked your son up early from middle-school last week for his dentist appointment.
You saw her in the playground sitting alone on a bench reading a book…with pages. The other girls were clustered in groups talking, squealing, and laughing (some too loudly) and many of the boys sat silently on the asphalt playing Fortnite on their phones or looking over the shoulder of Joey who was having a tremendous game going at the time.
You felt sorry for Kirsten Marie Frances Nowak. You figured she was unhappy, unpopular, hiding in the pages, but you got it wrong.
Even though she is different from the other children, she is well liked by her classmates. She has plenty of friends across the pre-teen social landscape. She fits in with the jocks, the band nerds, the eggheads, the geeks and freaks. She is all of the above.
Kirsten is unusual, she’s not your typical twelve year old. She is intellectually gifted, socially at ease, a talented athlete and a musical virtuoso. God carefully made Kirsten to do great things, to lead and succeed.
What does it take to lead and succeed? What does this little girl have to do to reach her potential, to fulfill her destiny? What has to happen for the path to be clear so Kirsten Marie Frances Nowak can walk it in excellence?
Before we ponder those questions, let me tell you what was happening to Kirsten the morning of that day you first saw her in the schoolyard.
She was standing by the toaster oven waiting for her frozen waffle to brown. The fork she would use was ready on her right and the plastic bottle of maple syrup was on her left.
Her Mom walked in to the kitchen and said, “We have to talk.” The toaster oven dinged. The waffle was ready but never eaten...READ MORE
