How Much Love Can You Fit in an Envelope?
I was 10 years old when I went to summer camp for the first time. I still remember the feeling as my mom drove away in our family’s station wagon. Utter and complete dread. I cried in the nurse’s office that night, clutching my stomach, telling her I was sick. She understood what I couldn’t. Sadness can feel a lot like a stomachache.
Continue Reading ›Want, Need, Wear, Read: Compassion Style
The idea is simple. You give your child (really, anyone in your life you might be inclined to “over give” to) something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read. And that got us thinking. We could do our own 4 Gift Challenge! But with the Compassion version, you could give those gifts to children in poverty.
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How Do You Make Christmas More?
Wait! I know what you’re thinking after reading that title.
“She’s going to tell me Christmas is too commercial. And that I need to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.”
You obviously don’t know me.
I love Christmas. I love twinkly lights and decorating sugar cookies and candlelight services and presents. I love presents. I’ve already started my Christmas shopping — NOT because I’m organized but just because it’s so much fun!
This Christmas, I’m not going to encourage you to do less. The opposite, in fact. You should make Christmas more! Not more stuff. But more love. More joy. More Jesus.
Which moments during the holidays make you feel happiest? Bring you joy? Help you feel most in line with how Jesus taught us to live and care for one another?
Is it the Christmas cards? Handwrite special notes for people you love (including the child you sponsor)!
The baking? Make a basket of cookies to share with that person in your life who feels alone this year.
The gift giving? Consider giving a gift from Compassion’s Gift Catalog — not only will you honor a loved one, but you’ll also provide a life-changing gift to a child in poverty.
So go forth, and Make Christmas More this year! And let us know how you do it!
Use #MakeItMore on Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter to share your ideas for how you spread the joy of Jesus this Christmas season.
And follow all the inspiration as we post your great ideas and more to our Make It More Pinterest Board. Be sure to tag us and we’ll share your great ideas to inspire others!
10 Super Father’s Day Gifts for the Hero in Your Dad
Provider. Protector. Hero. There are a lot of titles you can give the dads in your life. This Father’s Day honor the man in your life who’s always been your hero by letting him be a hero to children in poverty too!
How to Pray for the Child You Sponsor
Standing there in my kitchen, reading those words, I felt both the burden and privilege of praying for sweet Bilha. The joy that she trusts me enough to ask for my prayers. The guilt that I don’t pray often enough.
3 Things I Learned at My First Compassion Christmas Party
Celebrating Christmas at a child development center in El Salvador means giraffes, bumblebees and donkeys! And in the midst of the carols and wrapping paper, God taught me so much about His heart for the poor — and my responsibility to His children.
A Real Life
Help us play a real part in releasing more children from poverty by joining Release3.
Best Books of 2014
A few months ago, our blog guru, Sam, asked me to write a Top Five Books of 2014 post. He probably asked me this because I’m a writer. And I read pretty much all the time. But also because I think reading is a way to expand the mind, to experience things on the page that we can’t always experience in person. So I carefully chose books that I think will broaden your views of poverty, community, and what it means to serve “the least of these.” (I also just chose four books, because, as you’ll see, some of these took a little longer to get through … and also because I’m a rebel!)
Why Giving Tuesday Matters
When I was a teenager, my mom and I used to go shopping on Black Friday. Well … she would shop. I would usually end up sprawled on the sidewalk in front of the mall, reading a book and waiting for her to finish buying gifts for our family. It should be noted, though, that my mom didn’t necessarily enjoy these dawn excursions with a whiny teen. She did it because she loved us, and she wanted Christmas to be special. Our family wasn’t wealthy, and she saved all year to buy those gifts — to demonstrate in a tangible way that she knew us, knew what we liked. And that she loved us. And even the malls couldn’t interfere with that mother’s heart.
The Year I Gave Homework for Christmas
I’m a big reader. As a child, I had books hidden away everywhere — in the cushions of the couch, tucked under my brother’s car seat and stuffed into my pillowcase. So when I was about 10 years old, I decided I would buy every person in my family a book for Christmas. I pored over the Scholastic Books order form and found books for my parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. I wrapped them and carefully placed them under the tree. On Christmas Eve, when we exchange gifts with my extended family, I was so excited to watch everyone open their gifts. There was one problem, though. Not everybody likes to read.
The Nobel Peace Prize Went to a Child. And it’s About Time.
This morning, 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai became the youngest person to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize. Though Yousafzai’s name may not be familiar, you probably remember her face—the face of a pale teen, eyes rimmed with dark circles, her head shrouded in bandages, clutching a white teddy bear. Two years ago Yousafzai garnered the world’s attention when she was shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting education for girls in Pakistan. Since then, after recovering from surgery, she has taken her campaign global, most notable with a speech last year at the United Nations.
Valerie’s First Christmas
I was about 3 years old in my earliest Christmas memory. I had chickenpox, and because I was quarantined, my stepfather dressed as Santa to cheer me up. I don’t remember the gifts I got that year, but I remember feeling so special that Santa had made a house call to visit me. That memory surfaced recently when I read the story of Valerie, a little girl in Togo. Valerie’s first Christmas memory happened last year — because it was the first time she ever celebrated Christmas.
