“…whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”
Proverbs 14:31b
In less than two weeks, our church will start our Operation Christmas Child project. I love it that our church participates in this project because it’s an excellent way for everyone – from preschoolers to Sr. citizens – to get involved in making the difference in a child’s life. It’s a way for all of us to be generous, even if we don’t have a lot of resources ourselves.
What is Operation Christmas Child?
It’s a program that provides Christmas gifts for millions of poverty-stricken children around the world.
How does it work?
People like you and me get a shoebox and fill it with gifts for a boy or girl. We turn in the shoebox, along with $7 for shipping, at a designated drop-off location and from there, the box is processed and sent to a needy child through Samaritan’s Purse.
Who should participate?
Operation Christmas Child is for everyone – young and old; single and married! I strongly encourage parents to make shoeboxes with their kids. It’s an excellent way to teach your children to be generous and to provide them with an opportunity to experience putting someone else’s needs above their own wishes.
How can I get involved?
If you attend the Lawrence Free Methodist Church, we’ll have information in our lobby starting Sunday, October 26. Pick up the instructions, get a shoebox, fill it with gifts and bring it (and $7 for shipping) back to our church no later than Sunday, November 16.
If you don’t attend LFMC, you can find packing instructions and the box drop-off location closest to your home on the Operation Christmas Child Web site.
What if money is tight?
The economic downturn of 2008 has caused most of us to think more seriously about our finances and reevaluate how we manage our money. Many families have experienced a layoff in the past 12 months and are struggling to make ends meet. Even if your family hasn’t experienced a layoff, we’ve all been affected by inflation, which is the highest it’s been since 1991.
When money is tight, it’s not only necessary to cut back spending on nonessential items, but it’s also natural to decline opportunities to participate in charitable giving, not because we don’t want to be generous, but because we don’t feel we can afford to be.
If you’re resourceful, it’s not costly to make a box for a child. You may even have new items, such as pens, crayons, marker and pads of paper in your home that you could include in the box. Shop the sales. Between now and mid-November, if you give up one restaurant meal, you’re well on your way to funding the cost of a box. That’s a small sacrifice for providing a child with the only gift she will get all year and a chance to hear about God’s love for her.
If you’re a parent, involve your children in figuring out how to fund the gifts in the box. You could encourage your kids to each come up with one way they could earn a little money to contribute to the box. They may not be able to generate more income, but they would probably be willing to give up something that you’ve been buying for them and put the cost of that item toward the box. The cost of a fastfood meal for a family of four would easily cover the cost of items in the shoebox.
Won’t you consider being a part of Operation Christmas Child this year?
October 16th, 2008 at 11:05 am
When I was 8 years old, money was tight, as my father was attending seminary by day and working at a gas station by night, my mother provided daycare in our apartment in a metropolitan area, and there were four of us (age 4 - 14) to raise. My first memory of that upcoming Christmas was my mother cutting and hemming a felt tree, upon which we affixed cut-out ornaments with Bible verses; I realized only later the scrap felt was a savings over an evergreen we could not afford. One night, I was eager when we were asked to make a list of what we wanted for Christmas … what a surprise to me! A few days before Christmas, people I did not know came to our home, delivering bags of wrapped gifts, each bearing a name. We had been ‘adopted’ by a local church, and young and old had donated not only something, but the specific gifts we had hoped for! What a Christmas morning … it’s greatness stays with me today. The lessons of that generosity, the thankless sharing, our childhood joy in the face of the little we anticipated that December — all these stick with me, and the older I get, the more I take from the experience. You see, a few weeks later, my parents took us to visit that church (not the church we regularly attended) so that we could show our gratitude. I remember how my parents could not find the words to express their thanks, but their tears said enough. I’m so proud now that they weren’t too proud to show up, to stand up in that church and acknowledge the great gift we had all been given. Don’t fail to pass on your own gift to a Christmas child; you are not likely to know just how long it keeps giving. And thank you, from a Christmas child.
October 16th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Thanks for sharing your story! God works on so many different levels when we choose to be generous — it our own lives and in the lives of those who are blessed by our giving. I love it how those experiences, whether we give or whether we receive, stick with us for life and shape who we become.