The Spirit of Christmas

The week leading up to Christmas Day was a wet one. It put me in quite a panic about how our Christmas Day serving the homeless would work out in pouring rain. We decided we would go out rain or shine, so despite an unfavorable forecast for rain on the 25th, we went out with the bags of helps and some food for the homeless.

We arrived at the park at 10:30 am and were happy to see that there was a sweet family also out serving. The mother said to us that she always drove by, saw the homeless in the park and that last night decided to just go home and make tamales with her family to bring over this morning. If you know anything about making tamales, you know that one does not "just go home and make tamales". It is hard work! The fact that she and her family carved out time on Christmas Eve to make such a labor intensive gift for strangers really touched me.

As we set up our contributions, volunteers began to stream in. We had around 20 people from church, who read my blog, or know us from Facebook show up. A friend of mine brought her brother and nephew with her, who then led us all in Christmas Carols for 45 minutes or so.

My friend Jaime, 6 month old baby strapped in the carrier on her chest, jumped right in there with them, singing with her new friends.

Sherrie, from church came with her husband, and was able to have nice conversations with the homeless men who had gathered around us, getting to know them a little bit.

On Facebook I was connected with, Deborah, a woman from our church whom I had never met before. Her house was on the way to the park, so we decided to carpool all together. She was such a huge help and it was fun to meet her and serve alongside her.

Friends I hadn't seen in months, some in years, came out with their families, large bags of blankets and coats in tow.

There were about 6 kids out there (including my own), all helping, chatting with the men who had gathered around. The girls made peanut butter and bagel sandwiches, handing them over with dimpled grins to whomever would take them.

At one point my son and a couple other boys were tossing around a football. I noticed a young homeless man standing by sort of wistfully watching them play. He couldn't have been more than 20. I walked up to him and said, "Do you want to play?"

Surprised, he looked at me, shook his head and said, "Oh, no, I couldn't"

"Sure you could! They brought the football to toss around with anyone who wanted to. You look like you want to."

The man grinned, looked at me again, I motioned for him to go and he was off, running down towards the kids.

Later, I asked my son if the man seemed to have fun tossing the football. Tyler's eyes lit up as he told me how good the guy was. "Mom, he could throw the football so far! I think he could even be famous! It was really fun!"

Ours wasn't the only group out at the park giving out food and treats on Christmas Day. It was encouraging to see that many other people wanted to bless the homeless that day. I do love that the holiday season brings out the generous spirit in all of us.

Now that the holidays are over, the real question is will we choose to bless the homeless and needy all year long?

All About The "Getting"

We just started getting the weekend newspaper again after a several-year hiatus. We weren't reading it enough and the Sunday ads just taunted me with cheap clothes and electronics that no one needed, but oh, how I wanted. What tipped us over the edge was the girl going door to door selling subscriptions "to help her earn a college scholarship". Yes, it was about as believable as you can imagine, but seeing as a six month weekend subscription was somewhere in the ballpark of $13 we went with it.

Our timing could have been better. The first Sunday paper was so overloaded with holiday ads that Charlotte couldn't have picked it up if she wanted to. Which she didn't.

As soon as they saw the paper the kids started clamouring for the funny pages, because as Sunday paper newbies they had no idea what waited for them inside.

I rolled open the giant paper and began sorting through for the funnies. As I did, I was inadvertently handing my kids ads labeled "Holiday Toy Lists", "Hottest Toys of the Season" and "Totally Toys". By the time the funnies were finally produced I found that my children were huddled over the Target toy ad, oohing and ahhing over the lastest and greatest.

I didn't pay too much attention to it until I realized that the kids were carrying around the ads like prized books. If a page got crumpled or torn, the kids turned on each other like reality show contestants, trying to find the culprit.

They fought over the booklet, then finally settled down to start looking at the ads together, folding down pages for the items they wanted. It's a kid tradition to peruse catalogs and ad inserts for the most wished toys each Christmas. Entire holiday movies are based on the concept.

I watched my kids fight, then make up, then listened to a chorus of "I want that's" and my heart began to sink. They all found items that they truly wanted, the things they have been wanting for a long time, princess dolls for Charlotte, Legos for Tyler and American Girl dolls and accessories for Lily. These are items that they had been talking about for weeks and months, that they had been studying online and knew the ins and outs of.

But they also found things that they never even knew they wanted. Bigger toys that were more sparkly or more pink or had more pieces. Before the wonderful world of Sunday newspapers my kids knew exactly what they wanted. After the glossy ad enlightenment they suddenly thought they needed so much more.


That doesn’t really ever change, does it?

We always have desires. Things that we work towards our whole lives but often when we are presented with something bigger, fancier and more sparkly, our old desires seem too small, so we upgrade. Sometimes we get our desires and then we want more, barely taking time to enjoy the joy and blessings we do have.

It's so easy for this time of year to become all about the "getting". I'm guilty of it. Heck, I am writing this post while texting my sister about our planned Black Friday shopping exploits, where we shop cheap deals for ourselves, not so much our loved ones, so yeah. Guilty.

Our proclivity towards more more more certainly can rear its head this time of year. I am trying to find the balance between desire and outright coveting. I want this holiday season to be full of peace and joy and family and service while enjoying the gifts we do have.

I am so excited about this upcoming holiday season and the plans we have for Christmas Day service to the homeless. We have nearly 40 people signed up to go to Cesar Chavez park on Christmas day. Forty. People. Unbelievable!

Come back tomorrow, because I'll be laying out the whole plan. If you are local to the Scaramento area, I urge you to consider participating with us.

Action and a Call For Help

Well, we have come up with a plan, of sorts, in response to last week's tension. We still aren't 100% sure what we would like to do on Christmas Day, but Aaron and I agreed that we needn't wait until then to act. We have decided to make bags to keep in the car and hand out when we see someone in need. I did not come up with this idea on my own, no we have Pinterest to thank. Of course.

Charlotte and I went to the store and got various toiletries and some granola bars to put into the bags. When the bigger kids got home we sat down and made 5 bags with the items we had. Soap, razor, washcloth, deoderant, Gold Bond powder, granola bar, toothbush/paste. It all went into the bags. The kids were rather put out that we couldn't make more bags and Tyler kept saying over and over "These bags need more food, Mom! This isn't enough food! We need to go to the store for food!"

We scoured the pantry for something to add in and found some hot chocolate packets. After I put the packets into the bags, Tyler followed me around the house saying we should take them out unless we planned on including cups and water bottles, too. "How else would they drink it, Mom?"

Lily was bothered by the absence of something healthy, so she grabbed apples from the fruit bowl as we were on our way out Saturday. She had a bundle in her arms so high I could only see her nose peeking over the pile. I could hear her grin as she chirped, "Put 'em in the bag, Momma!"

In two days we gave out all five bags. Every time she saw someone, Charlotte would get excited and bounce in her seat shouting, "MomMomMom! There's a guy, there's a guy!" Then she would try to unbuckle herself so that she could be the one to lean out the window and hand the person their bag.

The recipient was usually flabbergasted, sometimes confused and one guy laughed out loud as he looked through the items. Since we gave them at stoplights we usually zipped off as soon as the bag was placed into it's owners hands, so I can't really tell if the bags are truly helpful. I hope they are.

Now, I would like to ask my local friends and readers for help. I don't expect that you are going to feel like joining us on Christmas Day with whatever activity we choose to do, and that is ok.

I want to ask if you would pledge to give out a number of bags of food and toiletries between now and Christmas.

My hope is that we could give out 2,300 bags throughout Sacramento County (and anywhere else people choose) in the months leading up to Christmas.

That number is significant; it is the number of "chronically homeless" individuals there are estimated to be in Sacramento County. I have no idea how accurate that estimation is, but it is what I have to go on. It is something to work towards. 

As a family, we decided to try to give out 100 bags. They won't all necessarily look like the bags we gave out last time, becuase toiletries are quite expensive. We will likely try to give bags with a smaller mix of food and toiletries. The point isn't how big or small the bags is, but that we are doing something tangible and real that will hopefully bless people who feel unloved and ignored.

Will you join us? Will you keep bags in your car or in your backpack/briefcase/purse to hand out as you are going abut your day?

The sky is the limit of what you could do and who you could motivate to join you...it can be a family project or done with scout troops, school classes, church groups, book clubs, office mates, carpool buddies, the poker guys, soccer team, bible studies, playgroups, library friends, PTA....I could go on and on.

If you do decide to join me in this can you do one little favor? Can you comment below, via twitter or on facebook and let me know how many bags you want to give out and where you are from? One bag, 10 bags, 100 bags, it does not matter how many you would like to do, but it would be awesome if you did it.

Thanks, everyone!

Tension

I stared down at my three dollar brownie, four dollar mocha and my husband's two dollar fair trade, organic, locally roasted, freshly brewed coffee and the tension between what I believe and what I do snapped into a million pieces. I looked at him and heaved the heavy sigh that he has come to know as the sign to buckle up, I am going to say/suggest/do something crazy.

"So.....last year when we decided to take the kids on a trip for Christmas instead of buying them presents, I started looking around to see if there were any places to serve on Christmas day." Aaron looked up from his book and waited for me to continue. "I couldn't find anything at any of the usual places. I guess Christmas Day isn't as popular a day to serve the homeless as, say, Thanksgiving is."

He is still looking at me, though I know he is catching onto my drift. "So I am wondering if it would be totally crazy to take a few hours on Christmas Day and head down to Cesar Chavez Park (where a portion of our city's homeless population gathers) or something and hand out food and blankets or whatever. We could see if people wanted to come and help us." and within minutes we talked about what we could do, how we could help and how to make this one act part of a way of life for us and our kids, how we realize that while we don't have much, we have SO MUCH. 

As we planned I could feel tightness in my throat building up and I croaked out, "But it will be on Christmas! What if no one wants to help us on Christmas Day? People are busy! WE are busy!"

These are the moments where I wonder how the heck I got so lucky, because my husband smiled and said, "Well, then we will load up the van and the kids and do it by ourselves. That's ok." and as soon as he said it I began to blubber and cry in the middle of Old Soul Coffee Co, like the fool that I am.

We are feelers in this family. We have big feelings. Lots of feelings. We talk about our feelings. It's exhausting, but good. As I am trying to discreetly, or at least prettily cry in public, my husband looks at me and asks me, "Are you feeling guilty?" I look at him. "Do you feel guilty for what we have or for not doing this sooner? I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing, I am just asking."

Yes. Yes, I do feel guilty sometimes. We have a comfortable home and food and give away or throw away more than we ever consume. So, yes. There is some guilt. But the real guilt, the real issue for us, is that we have not done more to help. We haven't made helping the needy and homeless an natural output of our lives and that makes me sad, and now all of Old Soul Coffee Co. knows it, too.

During his sermon Sunday our pastor was talking about obedience, and how when we obey God we are

like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:3

When we obey God we can't help but prosper in the fruits of the spirit - love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22-23) and sometimes when we are also rewarded with financial prosperity. 

 The thing that struck me was "yields". A fruit tree yields its fruit. 

As in give up, relinquish, hand over, give away. As in doesn't keep. This can easily apply to the love, joy, peace, and kindness that obedience to God give us. It very easily applies to our money, time, and possessions as well. It is natural for us to look at whatever wealth God gives us and say, "Sweet, God! Thanks!" and use it mostly to our own benefit.

Whatever guilt I have comes from the fact that my daily life does not reflect God's call to believers to serve the poor and downtrodden. If I profess to be a believer, then I am called to help the needy. The question isn't Am I called to minister to the poor? it is How am I called to minister to the poor? 

In the most technical sense we do give to the poor. We donate to shelters, we give to missionaries who work with the homeless and downtrodden, we give to the man on the center divide when we have change. Check, check, check. But helping the poor, homeless, downtrodden, abused, helpless people of our community isn't second nature. And it should be. 

Though Aaron and I started the conversation in the context of what we would do for the homeless community of Sacramento at Christmas, we both voiced a desire to make helping the homeless and marginalized of our city second nature for ourselves and our family. Now we are left with taking the next step; acting on what we believe.