It's 1 month till Christmas - this got me thinking about what we, as kids, did on Christmas Day.Growing up we would go to an inner city hospital after church on Christmas Day, to take pressies for those who had no family visit them on Christmas Day. They were too sick to go home.
We especially used to go to the terminal ward for children - there's nothing more special than seeing a child give a broad smile and hold your hand, even though they don't know you. How special is that? We sang with the kids and helped make their Christmas special.
I was a child myself at the time... and this meant the world to me!
My friends at school thought it weird and felt sorry for me, saying ''You must have had a horrible Christmas Jenny'' - where the reverse was actually true.
Anyway, the true gift at Christmas is Jesus - not pressies... and so to bring a bit of joy and laughter into a hospital ward on a bright Christmas Day is probably the best present we could have brought them.
I am so glad I have a mum who brought us up this way as this view of people and their needs has gone with me into adulthood in a huge way.
That is so nice...when I have kids I want them to grow up thinking about others and recognizing that they really don't have it so bad!
ReplyDeleteWow - that is such a wonderful memory, and such an amazing thing for your mother to teach you as a young child.
ReplyDeleteThat is a beautiful way to look at it. It's refreshing with all of the Ayn Rand type blogs out there today. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI agree Sara, working with kids myself, they don't realise just how fortunate they are, to have dry nappies (to have nappies at all!), to have full tums after a hot nutritious meal (some kids are lucky to have one meal a day), to never be thirsty (water on tap!), to have so many toys (some kids have none), to be loved and appreciated and cared for (orphans?).
ReplyDeleteWe are all so very blessed.
Erik, we live in a selfish society sadly. I wish it weren't so.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your encouragement!
Sera, my mum is proof that a single mum can bring her kids up well! We might not have had all the latest gear our friends did, and we had to get school uniforms from the school swop shop etc... but she taught us values and that every person is precious.
ReplyDeleteShe is one incredible woman!