Giving Jars and Giving Thanks

A few of weeks ago, my husband and I, along with a group of amazing adults and teens, attended the SC Diocesan Youth Conference. This is youth led conference for youth.  It’s amazing and powerful.  It’s a weekend I look forward to all year long.  This year was no different.  The weekend of the conference always falls right at the beginning of Lent, so I had just started this crazy Lenten journey and I was pumped to grow and be nourished with 700+ Catholics from around the state. The conference started out as to be expected. Amazing skits.  Awesome speakers.  Great music.  My heart was hungry for this.  I had been craving a time set aside to really worship and focus on God.  I needed to have my cup filled. As we were getting ready to head back to our rooms Friday night, we found out the conference center had no water. What!? How can you have a conference with 700+ people staying on campus without running water? Well you can’t. The conference had to be cut short.  My heart was broken.  It was broken for the youth who had planned the conference.  They had put so much work into planning and organizing this weekend.  It was broken for our youth who wouldn’t get to experience the joy and renewal this conference brings.  And it was broken for myself.  I had looked forward to this weekend.  I needed this.  Didn’t God know we all needed this weekend?

We had a short morning session on Saturday, then Mass.  Both were powerful and much needed.  This is what my heart had been groaning for.  Time with Jesus and other people who loved Him too.  Before we headed home, they had one last speaker come out.  His name was Thomas Awiapo, and he ruined me.

He started by telling his story of growing up in Ghana.  He had been orphaned at an early age, seen his younger siblings die from malnutrition, and felt the overwhelming ache of hunger. Then he dropped the bomb. He said how sorry he was for us that our conference had to be cut short because of the water issues, but maybe we can now understand a little more what children in his country go through.  They walk for miles to get to dirty water, that will most likely make them sick.  By this point, I was unable to sob gracefully anymore.  I had broken down into a full-on, ugly, borderline hysterical cry.  My concerned husband asked if I was okay.

 “No, I’m not okay.  God is ruining my life!”

My husband just blinked at me as Thomas continued his story. Unsure how he was going to survive, he followed some kids with food to a Catholic Relief Services supported school.  The school would feed the children if they attended, so he started going to school in order to receive a meal.  He held up a familiar little box.  It was a rice bowl.  Most churches pass them out during Lent to collect money for CRS.  He held up the box and told us it had saved his life.  Because of the money given to Catholic Relief Services, he was fed and given the opportunity to go to school.  Now he works for CRS Ghana helping other children receive the love he was shown.

This. is. what. it’s. all. about.

What’s the point in filling our cups, if we don’t seek to overflow on others?

I have been replaying this experience in my heart and mind for the past couple weeks, and praying about what my response should be.  What can I do to make a difference? How can I teach my children to be sensitive to the needs of others and foster a spirit of joyful giving? How can I soak our lives in gratitude? Cue the birth of the giving jar.

My hopes for the giving jar are for it to be a constant reminder of everything we have to be grateful for.  God has given us so much.  I want my children to be able to see how richly they have been given unto.  I also want them to feel the ache for our brothers and sisters who are hurting.  I want them to learn to give, not out of reluctance or guilt, but out of joy.  I want the giving jar to help teach our whole family what it means to really follow Christ.

I am so glad God is ruining my life because this new life I’m learning about is overflowing with love and grace.

Circle of love

As a mother, there isn’t a more comforting feeling than freshly washed kiddos bundled up in their pajamas. Something about knowing they are clean and warm sets my mind and heart at ease.  It helps me to feel like, despite all my failings, here is something I am doing right.  These little people, that have been entrusted to me, are being cared for and loved.  In Proverbs 31, characteristics are given of a virtuous wife and mother.  It speaks of hard work, but also the joy that comes from providing for your family.

“She fears not the snow for her household; all her charges are doubly clothed.” Proverbs 31:21

There is a tremendous peace of mind from knowing your children are clothed and warm.  Every mother deserves to feel that peace.  For my first service project, I chose Daybreak Crisis Pregnancy Center. They provide counseling and assistance to women experiencing a crisis pregnancy. They are doing amazing work.  Among a host of other services, they provide free maternity and infant clothes to women in need.  So I collected up some of my old maternity clothes and purchased a few new items to pass along.  As I packed up the clothes, I prayed over each item.  I prayed that the mothers who wore these clothes would feel beautiful and extraordinary because of the new life growing inside them.  I prayed that they would feel the overwhelming joy of cuddling their freshly dressed newborn, and inhaling that amazing new baby smell.  I prayed that they would feel peace in knowing their babies were warm and clothed.

My boys and I dropped off the items, where we were very generously thanked for our donation.  As I drove away, I was overcome with the thought that the same clothes that kept my belly warm when I was growing my precious babies, would now keep someone else warm. It’s a circle, ya’ll. Love is meant to be passed on.

Daybreak also has a blog. Go check it out.