Be One of the Helpers

 

Mr. Rogers once said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” 

 

These are scary times for a lot of people. Government workers are trying to survive without paychecks, and many SNAP recipients are wondering where their next meal is coming from. I live in Springfield, MA. It is a gateway city where, even on a good day, many people suffer from food insecurity. Right now, people are desperate. The Republican, our local newspaper, reported on Tuesday, November 4^th, that “In Springfield alone, 47.4% of residents receive SNAP benefits. Most of the recipients are working families that don’t make enough to scrape by. Others are retirees, children and the disabled.” The lines at food pantries and long and getting longer every day. It is no doubt a scene being played out across America.

Churches, civic associations, and stores are all stepping up to do what they can. There are collections everywhere. This is one of those times when everyone with the ability to give needs to be a helper.

So, how can you help?

1)       Help your neighbor – Do you know someone personally impacted by the government shutdown or loss of SNAP benefits? Do what you can to help that person/family. Maybe leave a bag of groceries on their front step. Make “extra” of a meal and bring it over or invite the family over for dinner. Give gift cards to your local grocery store. You can send them anonymously if you don’t want to get the credit or make the person feel bad for needing help.

 

2)       Donate to pantry food collections -  Whether it is through your local church, school, library, or directly to a food pantry, every nonperishable item helps. If you aren’t in a position to purchase items, look through your pantry (be sure to check expiration dates) and donate items that you have on hand. Donating money to a local food pantry is always appreciated as well.  

 

3)       Donate to Food Banks – Food banks provide food to the food pantries that directly serve people in need. They are able to purchase food at a discount and make your donation dollars stretch farther. The Foodbank of Western Massachusetts states that every $1 of donation provides two meals.

 

4)       Volunteer – Many local pantries are straining under the weight of both increased need and increased donations. They are looking for people to help out.

 

5)       Pray – The people in need and the people serving them through food pantries need help in the form of loaves and fishes kinds of miracles. All the efforts can’t make up for the loss of SNAP benefits, but we can pray that somehow the food stretches and that people get what they need.

 

Matthew 25:34-5 tells us, “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me.”

Helping the poor is part of the Christian mandate. God rewards generosity. Please do what you can.

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/offer-give-share-provide-5022188/

Be More Generous in the New Year!

 

We all tend to have great dreams of the things we are going to accomplish in the new year. We are going to pray more, exercise more, and finally finish that craft work in progress that has been sitting in the closet for the last decade. There’s nothing wrong with new year’s resolutions, especially the ones that involve improving on our spiritual life, but all too often real life intervenes, and by the time mid-January roles around, we have given up, feeling like a failure because we couldn’t do whatever we set out to do.

The beautiful fact is that we don’t have to wait for a new year (or a new month) to start making changes. We can do something positive today, and then get up tomorrow and do another positive thing, and pretty soon we have a habit that is making a difference in our lives and the lives of those around us. One of those positive things we can do is be more generous.

Matthew Kelly has written an inspiring book, The Generosity Habit, that encourages us to be more generous every day. Kelly states, “The generosity habit is simple: Give something away every day.” If money is tight (as it is for so many right now), please rest assured that this doesn’t have to be money or a material item. “You don’t need money or material possessions to live a life of staggering generosity.” Even better, generosity has a ripple effect. Our small acts of generosity encourage others to also be generous. We have the power to change the world in small and not so small ways simply by giving. This is a gift all of us have to offer.

Kelly offers 101 ways to be generous. There is sure to be something on this list that you can do today. Think of this book as a generosity toolbox, providing you with ideas that you can use in different situations. Some of these ideas are to call or text someone you haven’t reached out to in a while, purchase an item from a small business, compliment a stranger, offer encouragement, pray for someone, pick up trash, write a positive book review online, and listen well to someone.

Each of these ways is accompanied by an inspiring quote. I have a chalkboard in my kitchen on which I write a quote to reflect on each week. I’m certain many of these quotes are going to make their way onto my board!

This is an easy book to read. One can read a page at a time and be inspired. It is perfect to keep on a nightstand or in your prayer corner. We can also use it as a jumping-off point to help our children be more generous. The Generosity Habit is a small book with an important message. May we all be more giving in this new year.

How to Keep the Christmas Spirit All Year Long

The secular world has already said "goodbye" to Christmas. I went to a local store today, two days after Christmas, and not only were the Christmas items all 50% off and the Valentine gifts/candy predominantly displayed, but there was also Easter candy now on sale! Yet, even for those of us who prefer to enjoy the 12 Days of Christmas until January 6th, it's easy to lose that joyful spirit of giving that permeates Advent and Christmas as the year continues on.

Christmas Jars is a ten-year-old book by Jason F. Wright, but I read it for the first time on Christmas Eve. What a lovely story! On a New Year's Eve, Louise Jensen finds an abandoned baby girl at a local diner. She names the baby Hope and raises her as her own.

Many years later, Louise has died and Hope, a journalist, is facing Christmas Eve on her own for the first time. She goes home to her apartment only to find that she has been robbed. Yet, in the midst of all that chaos, someone leaves a jar full of coins outside her door. It is labeled, "Christmas Jar." Her journalistic instincts take over and she is determined to find the source of the Christmas Jar, but that investigation will reveal more than she ever expected.

This book has inspired many others to keep Christmas Jars, saving loose change throughout the year to share with someone anonymously in the days leading up to Christmas. The version I read is a collector's edition which includes stories of some of those who have received these jars and the difference it made in their lives. It is truly touching and beautiful and it might just inspire you to keep a Christmas Jar of your own all year long. Every time you throw in some loose change, you'll remember Christmas, and keep a little bit of that spirit all year long.

Purchase this book (or anything else) on Amazon after clicking this link and help support this site: http://amzn.to/2CgzueH  Thank you!

Grace of Yes Day - November 18th - #graceofyesday

Lisa Hendey's New Book is The Grace of Yes: Eight Virtues for Generous Living and to encourage generosity she has started Grace of Yes Day on November 18th. The idea is to light up social media and the blogosphere with photos and stories of people saying "Yes" to God utilizing the #graceofyesday hashtag. You can download your very own "Grace of Yes Day" sign and find out more at: Grace of Yes Day



For me, saying "yes" to God is one of those things I'm growing into. I often say "yes" kicking and screaming with some crying thrown into for good measure. I think learning to trust God is a lifelong process, or perhaps I'm just a slow learner, or maybe it's a little of both. In any event, my adopted daughter Amy represents one of the biggest "yes" moments of my life, so I took her picture with the sign. It's been almost four years since I got an out-of-the-blue phone call asking me if I wanted to adopt a baby girl. I'm so glad that I said yes.

Book Review: Blessed, Beautiful, Bodacious

Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious: Celebrating the Gift of Catholic Womanhood
by Pat Gohn
Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2013

Our present culture does not value and esteem womanhood very much. Catholic writer, speaker, and podcaster Pat Gohn is working to change that. With Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious: Celebrating the Gift of Catholic Womanhood , Gohn “seeks to celebrate womanhood by exploring a woman’s dignity, gifts, and mission.”

As one might expect from the title, Gohn describes women as blessed, beautiful, and bodacious. “We are blessed that we have simply been called to be.” Baptism serves as a tattoo on our souls. We have been branded by God, “claimed as his own.” We are children of God with a loving Father who “always knows what’s best for his daughters.” 

Our beauty is more than skin deep. It is centered on “four dynamic gifts” from God: receptivity, generosity, sensitivity, and maternity. Receptivity is “receiving another person for his own merits.” It is “saying yes to love.”  When we make that decision to love, we also live generously. “We may never know who might be ultimately blessed by our generosity. The ripple effects are often shielded from our sight. But God uses our generosity for good, to bear good fruit.” Sensitivity is also part of love. It involves seeing with one’s heart, to be able to help and serve others when and where they need it most. Maternity encompasses more than the physical ability to give birth. “All women are entrusted with the call to care for the people within their sphere of influence.” In this section, Gohn discusses the beauty and responsibilities of both physical and spiritual motherhood.

Bodacious refers to our reason for being on this earth, our individual mission given to us by God. A combination of bold and audacious, this gift invites us to embrace all that God made us to be.

Gohn writes in a very conversational style, sharing stories from her own life in order to illustrate how God works in a person’s world. She tells of her romance with her husband, the challenges of parenting, the importance of friends, and her experience with cancer while still in her thirties.  She shares her fears and joys and how she developed a relationship with Mary, whom she holds up as a model of all that a Christian woman should be.

With a Master’s Degree in Theology and certificates in adult faith formation leadership and the theology of the body, Gohn brings much to the conversation of what it means to be a modern Catholic woman, a daughter of God. Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious is wonderful reading for any woman who wants to embrace the gifts God gave her.