Gifts of Compassion

I learn most things through repetition. Perhaps it's my stubbornness. Or my momma mind that sometimes seems mushy. Whatever the reason, I soak things in when I hear them and do them more than once.

That's my strategy for teaching my kids, well, right now, really my 4-year-old girl, about how to make the Christmas season meaningful. {My 2-year-old boy is learning other things right now, like how to eat yogurt cleanly with a spoon, how to hold my hand when we walk in a parking lot, and how to put words together to make sentences. Deeper things to come.} We don't do lots of gifts under the tree for each other, but oh do I love giving gifts. Of course, I buy for our family and friends. But it doesn't end there.

I tell Cate over and over how blessed we are. And, unfortunately, not every kids lives a life like ours. So God wants us to share our blessings with others. We try to show her ways to do this, not just this time of the year.

At our Jesus birthday party we collected money so we could help people we've never met in far away places. With that money, we bought kids {and their families} building materials ($20), garden seeds ($10), school supplies ($30) and blankets/tarps ($15). These gifts through Compassion International aren't expensive, but they'll make a difference in lives. If you want to do something even more lasting, you can sponsor a child. Your monthly $38 will continually change a child's life as he/she grows up, learns who Jesus is, and gives back to his/her community. And not only does that child's life change, but so does the entire family.

And that difference brings us back to the meaning of Christmas, where joy and compassion and generosity are abundant. All because that baby was born in a manger thousands of years ago. Oh come let us adore him.
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