This Christmas season has brought with it a greater sense of admiration & gratefulness for the generosity of others than I have ever experienced before. As I have mentioned before, one of the benefits of working in a place that deals with trauma is the opportunity to be around wonderful people who are trying to make a difference in these types of situations. The holiday season has seemed like a giant magnifying glass ... suddenly showing the fingerprints of God's generosity in the lives of so many of His image-bearers, whether or not they realize it is His image they display through their gifts.
Lately, it seems that our organization receives calls almost daily from people wanting to give of themselves to show love to the children and families we work with. Here are some recent gifts we have received:
* Earlier this week, a man from a vintage corvette club just walked in and handed our director a large donation from his club
* A woman called a couple weeks ago to let us know that she loves sewing and asked if we needed anything sewed.
* A vendor for Wal-Mart came by last week and dropped off dozens of packages of diapers
* Today, a woman called saying she wants to donate a couple dozen Build-A-Bear bears for kids to take home after they've had their medical exams
Having grown up in the family and community that I did, I am no stranger to charitable giving, so I've been trying to figure out what makes this year feel so different. I've concluded that it is because this is the first year that I have had so many relationships with people who are on the receiving end, and I have started to see, firsthand, what a big difference these gifts do make. It has also been touching to see the way people really do want to give out of the resources they have been given: people with money want to give money, ladies who sew want to sew, people who have access to teddy bears want to give teddy bears. It reminds me of the Little Drummer Boy, and I love it.
"I played my best for Him ..."
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