A moving thought that brought me to tears...

This morning when I woke up I was feeling a little down. Life just doesn't always dish out all that we hope for; life just isn't easy. I tried doing little things like making coffee and taking time to watch a little tv to make me relax a little and hopefully forget my sadness so that I could move on with my day... Hmmm, that never works. I then looked at the stack of boxes that my mom left in my living room last night... filled with baby clothes! (No I'm not pregnant!) My mom's intention was to give it to the poor and then she suggested that she wanted to wrap them up to give to the less fortunate at Christmas time. I thought it was a great idea and I volunteered our small group to do the sorting and the wrapping... So that will be one of our projects over the coming weeks...

So anyhow, when I saw those boxes, they inspired me and I began wrapping empty boxes in Christmas paper to be filled with joy for those who seldom feel or see joy. While I was wrapping the gift boxes I began to think how many people think about giving at Christmas time but not during any other time of the year? Why is that? Couldn't we or shouldn't we do something to change that? Isn't it our duty as Christians? Duty is not the right word... if we are truly trying to be Christ like, these feelings and DESIRES (now there's the right word) to give should be spilling out from us all year round! Isn't that what Jesus would do?

I put on some Christmas music while wrapping those boxes to help me stay in the mood... (plus, anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE CHRISTMAS! Not for the gifts but for the joy that I see on peoples faces, the love that is shared among family members that is sometimes lacking throughout the rest of the year and simply for the priviledge of being able to celebrate the birth of our Saviour! Whenever I'm down, I usually turn to a Christmas CD or movie... I don't care what you think! lol) After wrapping just one box I started to think about my childhood and how every so often a box would be left at our doorstep filled with goodies... I remember telling my mom that the church must have gotten the wrong address because this box was for poor people and we weren't poor! That shows how oblivious my brother and I were to our poverty... lol (we were so cute!) I also remembered a Christmas when I was about 8 years old (Wayne would have been almost 7) when we got up Christmas morning and of course my brother and I were really excited about finally getting to open presents!!!! Well my mother seemed really down and didn't want to get on with our Christmas morning traditions... Finally we proceeded to go through our stockings and I remember my mom apologizing that there wasn't more. We didn't really care because we still got to open our present (I realize that there's no s on the word present). One each, they were from our uncle Doug... (I think that's when I realized that we really were poor... My mom was so sad...)I got a NKOTB tape and Wayne got a Def Lepard tape (I think that's what it was)... I'm sure we must have said "that's it???" My poor mother.... We were quite happy with our tapes though... (Don't worry mom, it was obviously a very memorable Christmas if 20 years later I am still thinking about it!) I'm pretty sure that after realizing that there was nothing under the tree for my mom (that was about a foot and a half tall and fake of course... there were 2 of them... We still have them kickin' around somewhere...lol) I went up to my room and got my only NKOTB card and one of those little plastic bubbles that you get from a bubble gum machine and filled it with pennies... I was so proud of myself when I went up to my mom and told her that there was something under the tree for her too! (I still remember her telling me to keep those gifts because they were mine.... She thanked me anyway.... How I wish she would have just kept them. I felt so bad for her because she seemed so sad...)

Wow.... thinking back to that time in our lives and how hard that must have truly been for my mother just broke my heart! Of course I was crying.... So much for getting away from my sad feelings.... but I didn't lose my motivation... It made me want to inspire everyone to keep a heart for others all throughout the year... I want to show Jesus to everyone I meet by simply showing love and kindness... Isn't that what God wants us to do anyways?

I realize that this is a long blog entry but I really just needed to spill my thoughts out... Thanks for reading! Please try to think of ways to reach out to those in our communities that God would want us to touch... We can talk about it here on the blog and at our next Bible study... In the meantime, if you have any clothes that you don't wear or anything that would be nice to wrap up and give away to someone who is less fortunate, bring them over to my place and we'll wrap them.... If you have any wrapping paper or old shoe boxes laying around the house, or tissue paper and tape.... Bring them along next weekend.... We'll make a night of it!!! I'll even play Christmas music!!!! Oh and have coffee too! (for Jay and Davey of course) Please pray about what God would have you bring... I look forward to next weekend...

Lastly.... a special note for my mommy.... I am so greatful to have you as my mother... Throughout all that we lived through as a young family, you truly made it wonderful... Wayne and I had no idea really that we didn't have much. We were happy kids.... Thank you for that... We both love you mom... xoxoxoxoxo God really was looking out for us wasn't he mom...I guess that the only way that we can show God that we are thankful to Him is by showing our love to all of His other children... (Thank you God for the opportunity to serve you in this way...)