Thinkin’ on it

Yikes! How is it already Wednesday and I missed a week of blogging? We’ve been working on our little giving projects, but I’ll admit that I’ve been doing more thinking than doing. Amazingly, we’ve made it to church every Sunday for the past few weeks, and there’s nothing like church to get ya thinkin’. One of the readings in this week’s service had a line that especially hit home with me… it was about fighting feelings of futility and hopelessness. The sermon was about the recent death in Uganda of a gay rights activist , and about the shootings in Tuscon, about whether our collective dialogue on these issues actually means anything. The overall message was that we’re all in this messy, f-ed up world together and whatever we do (and say) does in fact mean something. I want to believe that… but holding onto that belief day in and day out is a struggle for me. So, all this has me wondering about how to help my children when they feel like it’s all for naught. And I absolutely have no answers for that. But I’m thinkin’ on it.

Anyway, on to the week’s project, we found one of those cards in the mail announcing a porch pick-up date for Operation Kindness. I’ve always been a sucker for no-kill animal shelters, so it made our short list. We began sifting through our things to find toys and clothes that we no longer need. The kids had more focus for sorting through their toys than I expected. Not surprisingly, when I held up a toy and said, “Keep or give?” Lilly yelled “GIVE!” almost 100% a little more often than Nolan. But my baby boy was willing to part with more than just the broken stuff. He even contributed a super annoying, loud toy truck. Score one for Mama! I should go ahead and confess that this little act of giving coincided with a major need to clear out clutter. But it’s okay for benevolence to be a win/win, right? Otherwise, how would we have charity balls? How would we raise money for the needy without a bunch of people who want an express ticket to heaven? The kids have no problem with making fun out of giving. They were too busy jumping on the bed to even pose with their collection…

Also last week, I attended the training session for the Adopt a Grandmother program. Luckily, the trainer doesn’t have children, so she didn’t seem aware of the havoc we will likely bring to some unsuspecting senior. I made sure to tell her that we don’t mind someone who’s blind and deaf. Crossing my fingers …