Giving Back

Linking up with Charlotte Spiritual Sunday and Laura Beholding Glory

"Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light"  Norman B. Rice

I went to the women's prison yesterday. It's a place I don't like to go. I find it gloomy.... oppressive....dark.  But I go b/c I want to give hope....

I talked with some of the women...heard their stories....shared mine. Terrible things happened to many of them...rape, abuse...trauma.  Many live with shame and guilt...and the fear of not being able to make it on the outside. Life's been hard. Too much of a fight. 

I thought about my own life....I know...nothing is too hard when He comes on the scene....I'm not sure how He does it.....but somehow He takes the hurts...the pain....all the tough stuff....and turns it around. More that than....He even uses it for something good. 

As much as I don't like going into the prison....I come home humbled...and a bit changed. It's a funny thing about giving back....it leaves me with this  incredible feeling. So I've decided.....I'm going to keep going back to prison to shine His Light. 

Carry your candle.....run to the darkness. Go light your world.

 

Thankful Thursday

I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. Maya Angelou

There's an older couple near where I live....who made a fortune in horse-racing. They're well known b/c they give large sums of money to hospitals and nursing homes. But they have a stipulation when they give....they must be recognized. They want plaques put up in prominent places with their names and pictures shown and hospital wings to bear their name. 

One hospital had a statue built of them. Another removed the long standing name of a woman who had made huge contributions to the city. They replaced hers with theirs after the couple demanded their name replace hers or they wouldn't give to that particular hospital. 

Giving. I think it's better to give without expecting anything in return. To give from the heart. I'm grateful for those people in my world who give with no expectations of getting anything in return. 

-the director of a centre who's given me a platform to share my story and who gives so much to many in need. She's not building a name for herself. She just really cares.

-my girls who have discovered the joy in giving. My youngest recently asked if we could help out again on Christmas day and with Christmas drive like we've done in previous years.  "I love doing those things," she said. My heart puffed with pride b/c at 11 years old, she's figured it out....giving is the best...and the benefit...the incredible joy you get back. 

-My friend S. is one of the kindest...most giving people I know. I had no extended family and from the first time I met her...her and her family have become like mine.She's always been there to help me out and hear me out.....She's the total best.
-Friends T & G have a dream  to parent as many 'throw away' kids that they can.. They have two of their own and over the last few years have added four and still are open to more. They believe every kid deserves a home. How cool is that!!!  They're making a huge difference one kid at a time.
-the best....Everything He's given me......more than I could have ever imagined. Still He keeps giving me neat things....like you guys....and great friends.....and so much of life's best. The thing about it....even though He's never demanded anything back.....I want my life to reflect the ultimate Giver.....Him who'se giving radically changed my life.

Spiritual Sunday. "Giving"

Thanks Charlotte and Ginger for once again hosting these awesome Spiritual Sundays 

 

"Bring me the two most precious things in the city," said God to one of His Angels; and the Angel brought Him the leaden heart and the dead bird.You have rightly chosen," said God, "for in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me." Oscar Wilde

When my girls were little I used to tell them the story - The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. They listened wide-eyed as I told them about the little swallow who stopped to rest at the foot of the statue of the Happy Prince. And how the Happy Prince convinced the little bird to take pieces of him - the diamonds, saphires, gold  that he was made of....and fly it to the townspeople who needed help.  

The swallow agreed the first time, then a  second, and so on....all the time telling the Prince he had to leave very soon to fly south before the cold set in. 

But the Prince kept asking the bird, to help  just one more person....until the prince had given all the pieces of himself to others who were hurting....so they could be free.  

The  more the swallow came to know the Prince's heart....and the needs of the people....the more he  he chose to be the messager for the happy prince. With each act of giving....the little bird knew...like the Happy Prince...he would stay....and give his life.

When I finished the story....my girls and I would cry. I think because that kind of love, that kind of sacrifice touched a cord in our hearts. 
 
Whatever I have....whatever I am....I want to give. For me....He is the Happy Prince who touched me....changed me...I want to be like that swallow....His messanger....giving my all so others can be free too. 
 
We are the ones who make a brighter day...so let's start giving....

For This Reason

 He let me live. ...He wouldn't let me go. Friends around me were dying, taking their own lives or through accidently overdosing....But He kept pushing me forward - I resisted. I fought. I didn't trust.....But He waited - stood beside me patiently -never forcing me. He made me strong. Now I have to give back  - back to the One who touched me with the power of His gentleness - the power of His touch....on my life. I owe Him. Had it not been for His gentle touch....I would not have survived.......