{Click HERE to download the free printable for today.}
Blessing bags.
One of my favorite holiday giving tasks.
It ties in with the giftcard to the homeless task, but takes it a step further. (Here is a great post explaining in detail what they are, and gives suggestions on what to include.)
A bag/box filled with essentials to make the next cold months a teeny tiny bit better. Handed to the next homeless person you see on the corner.
I am not delusional…providing a big ziploc with socks and cough drops isn’t going to magically make everything all better.
I won’t go to bed tonight patting myself on the back, self congratulatory as I climb into my pillow top, down comforter laden bed.
Because these bags are but a Little Mermaid band aid on a leg that has been sawed off. (Okay, that was gross. But my that’s what my brain came up with this morning.)
But it’s true. It won’t save the day.
But…it will say: “Hey, we thought of you. You are not forgotten. You deserve some creature comforts. You are prayed for. You are loved.”
Everyone has a story.
I have one. You do too. And so then, does the guy on the corner in rags for clothes yelling at an imaginary friend.
His story might surprise you.
So today, Henry and I will take a trip to the store and talk about the hard stuff of inequality and God’s sovereignty and how it doesn’t make a lick of sense, but God called us to love and help even if we don’t understand it.
We will pack a bag with socks and gloves and cough drops.
And we will add some candy and other indulgences too.
I will tuck into the bag the notecard that Julie designed for us.
I love the words she wrote about today’s task.
And I will squirm in my seat as I try desparately to answer the unfiltered questions of a child struggling to understand how we have so ridiculously much…and others have so ridiculously little.
I better take some time this morning to pray.
I encourage you to carve the time out today to do this task.
I know, I know. Busy.
But busy doesn’t teach your children of God’s love.
Busy doesn’t cultivate obedience for His commands.
Busy doesn’t grow you.
Busy makes you stagnant.
And stagnant starts to reek after a while.
I am too often stagnant.
I gotta knock it off. Get moving.
A trip to the store with my boy should help. Or at least be a good start. A start. Because this needs to be a lifestyle. Not just a task.
And when we are done with our bags, we will come home and shop the Samaritan’s Purse Gift Catalog.
Similar to the Christmas Catalog that Compassion hosts, it provides necessities to others around the world.
Because we are SO ABSURDLY rich. It’s almost embarrassing.
And by we, I mean US. All of us. If you live in the United States, you are in the top 2% of the world.
Let’s share.
I mean, isn’t that what we admonish our kids to do every day?
We gotta mean it. Not just say it.
Let’s mean it together today.
No better time than the present.
Are you in?
Latest posts by jeannett (see all)
- Dirt in a Jar, Laundry Scientists, and Clean Water - October 20, 2015
- Because Cake. - October 11, 2015
- How to design a luxury bathroom for less - August 12, 2015
Love Samaritan’s Purse. We dropped off our Christmas Child box last night. We just got the catalog, and I haven’t looked to see what Henry, Lucy, Jillian, and Owen are getting for Christmas yet! What a great project.
Thank you so much for this. I check each day to see what the new “Happy Day Project” post will bring. This week for me, it has served as a much-needed reminder to think outside of myself. And to teach my kids to think outside of themselves. I know, but I don’t always DO. I am busy…working and mom-ing, and wife-ing. But, “Busy doesn’t teach your children of God’s love.” Thank you for that.
So happy you’re featuring this again Jeannett. When Julie told me about it, I was giddy. I appreciate you and your heart FULL of love.