To live is to be present. Marking life today with courage and compassion to connect and belong. We are worthy of love and connection because God wired us enough.
Once upon a time there was a little boy and his sister. They loved to watch TV and play games. One day the little boy decided to ask mommy if she could help them do a lemonade stand. But his mommy at first said no...and then said yes but never really got to it. So the boy kept asking and asking until one day, his mommy said "yes". Then his mommy asked the boy and his sister what they would do with the money they earned. The boy had not thought about that so he had no answer. So his mom suggested they consider raising money to help the kids in Niger they had been hearing about at church. They had heard that there was a country called Niger, in Africa...it was supposed to be far far away. People had shown them pictures of people who lived there and they had even met a missionary whose family was living there now, helping the people there gain skills so that they can have the means to take care of themselves. The boy remembered also ...
I was so happy to hear our church reached our goal to send out 500 plus shoeboxes this last November through Operation Christmas Child (OCC). Even though I had participated in OCC for more than 15 years this was the first year OCC really made an impact in MY life. Here are three lessons I learned, and am still learning: Lesson #1: Yes, He can...and Yes, we can. I still remember when we first determined we'd set the 500 box goal - part of me did NOT think we'd ever reach that goal. After all, we had a congregation of about 280 people. But while I doubted, another part of me knew God was calling me to witness the way HE moves and does HIS work. It was so exciting when we realized, one week before our deadline, that we had ran out of boxes (we had ordered 500 boxes initially) and had to rush more boxes in! As I involved my kids in the packing of shoeboxes I also became much more conscious of the abundance of resources we have here. ...
So my kids had this "Grand idea" . They wanted me to help them do a lemonade sale with a lemonade stand. I wasn't thrilled at first. My first thoughts were simply that I would end up doing all the work. I really didn't want to do it and had hoped this idea would leave the kids minds soon. But they kept on asking...and asking....and asking. So eventually I gave in. You can see the journey here . In the process, though, I have learned so much . At first I was worried about me being the person who would end up doing all the work. I also worried that I encouraged them to give the money for missions instead of just letting them do whatever with the money they earned. Was I a lazy mom? Was I pushy? Was I using them to push my own agenda? Did everything HAVE to have a purpose? Why couldn't I just let them have pure fun? But you see, I learned about what parenting is all about this week. Of course it is goo...
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