Christmas Blessing

I was so touched by a something that happened over the holidays. It was a lesson learned by two little boys in our church that we could all learn from about how God blesses us. During this time of recession many people and many things have been effected. Last year we adopted several families and our dining room was full of the presents that we delivered Christmas eve. With the decline in attendance and giving I knew that would not be our reality this year but I still wanted to do something. So Darin and I decided to pull our resources as a whole church and bless one family this year. One single mom with two little boys, out of work and a lot of disappointments this year. When I got their wish lists from their mom at the top of each one, in their own hand writing, was a list of things for their mom. "New Clothes for mom, a job for mom..." then a few things that they desired. Many of which I knew would be on my own little boys list. Most of what they wanted was necessities that most children take for granted. My friends and I began to gather resources from what little we had. I am ashamed to say that with all that I had on my plate I put the project on the back burner until the middle of December. One friend brought over a couple of things to for the family but I had not accomplished much on the project. One day one of the ladies from the church, Angie, called me because she felt a burden for the family and could not get them off her mind. She gladly took it off my hands and totally blessed the family. She took the ball and ran with it organizing gifts for the family from other church members and resources she had. She thought of everything and by the Sunday before Christmas had a car full of wrapped gifts for the entire family. We loaded the family's car down with out the boys knowing it. To Angie it still was not enough. She wanted them to have more. As a church we had pulled off a lot. Getting a past due heating bill paid, a new mattress, sheets and blankets for it, clothes, shoes, socks, underwear and toys on the wish list. Darin and I were so proud of what our church members did. I learned a couple of things from this:
1. As individuals we can see a need and because we can't totally meet it we instead chose to do nothing, but our combined efforts can add up to a lot when we each bring to the church the little we have God can multiply it to a much bigger blessing (loaves and fish)
2. I can't do it all and by trying the job it either does not get done well or someone else does not get to work in their gifting.
But the real lesson came from the little boys themselves. Here is a quote from their mom..
" I think pictures said a lot, Kids weren't expecting nothing, they was surprise and what really touch me was that they both manage to go walmart with my mom, just to get something to each other and to me and make sure something was on the tree, (my mom wasn't very happy, kids tell me that she rejected almost everything they try to choose, she believe they should put the money in the bank, what a difference 10 dollars can make) But I am happy because they believe in the joy to give, you see they fight all the time, but at the end , they want to make sure, each of them have something, was so sweet. I really think this is the best Christmas we had in many years, not because we got blessed with all the presents, but because my kids learn about love, sharing and faith, and we discover that we are not alone, that we are making a new family in God love, and they can see the difference in our daily life. GUESS WE FINALLY START FEELING WELCOME HOME, the 3 of us................WE LOVE YOU ALL................ "

How many times do we see a bleak future and God is just wanting us to give the little of what we have and when we do that he blesses us beyond our imagination. You truly can not out give God.