Monday, August 26, 2013

Magnify Your Blessings!

It's Back to School week for so many around America.  Shopping carts are filled to the brim with crisp new notebooks, pencils in Ticonderoga yellow, and glue sticks galore.  There are clothes to buy and shoes to be fitted along with the requisite lunchboxes and snack packs.  Another year, as children grow in knowledge and parents take yet another baby step in the letting go process that eventually leads to the very last First Day of School before their babies are off on their own.

Halfway across the world, there are parents desperately hoping for a brighter future for their own children, but the cost of pencils and notebooks outpaces their ability to provide.  They know that particularly in their country, an education is the sole way out of the desperate poverty they live in.  There is the choice between eating or coal for the winter versus tuition in a place where a free education does not exist.  These are literally life and death choices, with high consequences.

Emma and Bekah Wright have hit the ground in Kyrgyzstan, and the needs are huge.  There is food needed for seniors, there are concerns about filling needs for heating for the fast approaching winter.  There are repair projects to the buildings in hospitals and orphanages for which there is literally no one else to take on.

It seems like there is always a cause that is good that we wish we could help with, always a hand in need.  It can be difficult when trying to afford the necessities of our own life to give much thought to the unseen needs of those who live so far away.  And yet funds donated that help give a hand up rather than a hand out are some of the most wisely spent dollars ever.  They have lasting impact, rather than just create a short term solution.

Take a look over at the list of needs at John Wright's blog.  Is there a little something there you could pitch in to help with?  Could you buy one less pair of jeans here, so a child there could have the basic supplies to get an education with?  Or maybe you are feeling called to do a little more, there are sponsorships available, and other needs to be met.  Could you do without a Starbucks just once a week, and dedicate that cash to the hand up?

Blessings shared are blessings magnified.

http://www.actofkindness.blogspot.com/2013/08/actofkindness-state-of-union-address.html

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