Giving a Present of Presence

Would you agree?  There are just some people that their presence in a room can make a difference?  There is something about them -- their integrity, the way that they engage with others, the way they make others feel special.

They are open to relationship.

They are willing to be real.

They are safe.

They draw you out of yourself and help you to see your value.

They are honest.

They love you for who you are.  

They are like Jesus.

They are “present people,” and they are a gift.

In a season where lists of “things to do and presents to buy” for others roll through my head like semi-trucks rolling down a highway, I’ve been thinking about “presents” vs “presence.”

God works through our having a very present presence in people’s lives.  We can comfort others, encourage others, bring joy to others, and help others to see their value. Sometimes it’s just being in the room that can make all the difference, other times, it’s taking intentional time. It can happen when we are physically present and it can happen when we are emotionally present through a hand written note, a sympathetic ear at the other end of a telephone, through an e-mail or through a smile. 

I love people but I can get distracted with the demands of the season (or of life) and I forget that the most important thing I can do is not give a present (although I do enjoy that) but give more of myself.  I’m trying not to get too caught up in the details of the day, and make sure that I am following God’s lead on whom He wants me to check in with, spend time with and love on, or maybe even give a gift to.

Giving a present of our presence -- a very present presence. Blessing one person at a time, as the Lord leads.  Blessing the person He places in front of us, not just by being there, but being emotionally engaged -- having our hearts open to the heart of another. Loving one another as the Lord loves us. I’m working on it and enjoying it.  How about you?

What do you think? Can we tend to substitute presents for presence?  Why?  Is the risk greater in being present?  Are we fearful of rejection in the process?

A $79.91 Surprise!

It’s a mystery, indeed!  A surprise delivery on our door step!

A few days ago, one of the children noticed a vase sitting on our front porch.  It was filled with change – pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Attached to the neck of the vase was a card in an envelope. The envelope read, “To the precious servant children.” The card inside read,  "Change 4 Change 4 Jesus." The note was not signed.  There was no indication of who was responsible for this surprise.  How special and how fun!

Resting on top of the mound of money was a beautiful red ornament with the even more beautiful word “Jesus” written across it, and James 1:17 inscribed below.  On the back, the verse read, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the Heavenly lights … ”

Who would have left this?  Like a rag tag band of Sherlock Holmes “wanna-bes”, we are trying to figure it out – time of day it was dropped off, handwriting, choice of wording -- but time and time again, we are stumped.   All we can conclude is that it is likely someone who read my post  “Change 4 Change 4 Jesus” last week, and someone who  desired to creatively bless someone through our  children.

This weekend, we all sat around and counted the money in the same fashion of our tradition.  Sorting the money, counting it up by type and adding it in full -- an astounding $79.91.

We talked and prayed about who we should give it to and made our decision. We recently heard of  a family at our church who has a two year old grandson with feeding difficulties.  He needs a very expensive formula in order to survive.  We will give this money, along with the story and the ornament to these sweet people and pray that they are encouraged.

Isn’t God amazing?  Imagine this!  He provides for one family by the anonymous donation of someone’s change, through our children.  God is so interesting!  He meets our every need in the most unexpected ways – how fun it must be for God to see His people respond to His call and bless people along the way!

To whoever dropped the surprise on our door step -- thank you. You showed my children the value and joy of an anonymous gift.  God is using you to encourage them in being good stewards of whatever He gives, through whatever channels, and you are giving them the opportunity to love someone else. Thank you, thank you. A thousand times -- thank you.

(As for our $59 that we collected as a family, we decided to give it to the Freedom Food Pantry, a local food pantry my son recently visited on a field trip.  Since being there, his passion for helping people in this way is growing. He feels strongly that we share our gift with them, trusting that the Lord will use it as He sees fit.)

Second Annual -- Change 4 Change 4 Jesus

It’s official – we are calling Change 4 Change 4 Jesus a Christmas tradition at our home and the second episode in what we hope to be a long running series took place last night.

Just like last year (click here to read the story of how I came up with the idea), I announced “On your mark! Get set! Go!” and the children took off to all corners of the house. They did not leave a potential hiding place of change undisturbed – my purse, their banks, the car, between couch cushions, in coat pockets, the junk drawer, dad’s dresser, and more. 

The pile of metal gradually grew on the family room floor and then the counting began.  Quarters, nickels, dimes and pennies were sorted, grouped and added up, for a grand total of $59.32.

Although excitement abounded, a faint whisper of disappointment rustled through all of our hearts. Last year  we found an amount much greater than we imagined – the fact that we had all the change from our garage sale, helped a lot, not to mention, that we had never done this before.  It’s not that nearly $60 was not a lot, it’s just that …

And then we talked about how the dollar amount is not important to the Lord, our offering it up to Him – to help His loved ones – is what is important. He would take care of multiplying it, as we placed it in to His hands.  He often uses little things for great purposes. He’s known for doing amazing things!

In addition, unlike last year when we decided to share the money with a sweet local family in need and with Gospel for Asia buying chickens,  this year we did not come up with a firm decision on what the Lord was asking of us.  We all remained relatively silent on who should be the recipient.  All that we could agree on was that it should be someone local – an individual or a family – not an organization.  But, whom should we choose?

This is where we sit currently, a bag full of change and a desire to share it with someone in need.  We agreed to pray about it and listen intently to the needs around us, as we go about our daily activities.  One thing is for certain, the Lord knows who the right person is and He will show us as we continue to seek Him. Perhaps there will be a good lesson in this, too.

Our family would like to extend to your family the Change 4 Change 4 Jesus challenge – a Christmas tradition for a change.  And we’d love to hear from you as to what you did and how you shared your gift – the gift that God gave through you.

Enjoy, my dear readers. It is a precious memory, with a beautiful purpose – sharing the love of Jesus.

PS -- Feel free to share in the comment section below any ideas you may have on who you would like to see helped during this Christmas season.

Change 4 Change 4 Jesus

“On your mark! Get set! Go!”

I gave the command, and they were off. Jumping from their places on the floor and couch, the children scattered to all corners of the house. They searched under couch cushions, in drawers, and in pockets of coats hanging in the front hall closet. They rummaged through my old purses, a swim bag hanging in the laundry room and in my jewelry bowl on my dresser. They scowered the car. They found their own stash in jars hidden in their bedrooms and they gathered the treasures from spaces and places where “extras” were kept.

Quarters. Dimes. Nickles. Pennies. Change. That is what they were after. One by one, screams of glee would echo through our home, “I found some more! I found a quarter! I’ll be right there. I found a lot!” And gradually a pile of change began to accumulate on a dish towel, in the middle of our family room floor.

"Change 4 Change 4 Jesus" I coined it. (No pun intended! J) Seems like the Lord gives me the best ideas when I am driving in the car, alone – maybe it’s because I finally have a chance to sit down and think. I was pondering the question “Am I really making a difference? How can I touch people near and far this Christmas? There are people hurting everywhere, but what can I do – we do – to help bring about the change that is needed in the hearts of people, showing them the love of Jesus?”

I glanced down at the cup where I store my coins. The thought sprang in to my mind -- “Use this cup of change – all your change -- to bring hope.” And the idea was born – “Change 4 Change 4 Jesus.”

After gathering up the coins, leaving no couch cushion or bowl unturned, we sat down as a family and counted the money. Making piles of each coin in to smaller piles, we sorted and organized. We made guesses on how much we had ($70, $68, $78, $75, $73 and $80) and then enthusiastically went around the room, adding the totals together. To our absolute amazement we had $127.50 in quarters, $34.40 in dimes, $13.65 in nickels and $10.15 in pennies – for a grand total of $185.70!

Either we are very poor guessers or somehow God multiplied the money, given cheerfully, like He did the fishes and the loaves. I’ll never know, but we had a lot.

We wrote down ideas on how we would distribute the money. All sorts of opportunities came to mind – friends and neighbors in need, a family at church who recently lost their job, a friend struggling with grief, the local emergency shelter, our troops, our school, our church. We thought about sharing it with local community services, missionaries, our Christian radio station, a widow friend of ours and the Salvation Army. Then we took all our ideas and went to the Lord in prayer, thanking Him for the amount that we found, and asking Him to help us determine how He would want us to use this money -- His money.

After praying, voting and discussing we came to this -- we would help a family in our church that recently lost their job and we would send some of our money to Gospel for Asia, buying 4 chickens and 1 goat, to help families in India come out of poverty and know the love of Jesus. Anything left over we would use to brighten someone’s day in an unexpected way -- maybe someone who is sad, lonely or despairing.

Dear reader, I invite you to join our family’s “Change 4 Change for Jesus Challenge.” This Christmas season (and throughout the year) take time to get together as a family and search your home for change that can make a difference in the world. Make it fun and make it special. God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). Whether you find $2.00 or $200.00, ask the Lord to show you who He wants you to minister to with your “change.” The world is full of people in need, near and far – financial needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs. One by one, we CAN make a difference and be a blessing to a world that is hurting, in the name of Jesus.

PS – One more thing – will you come back and let us know what you did and the ideas that you came up with regarding whom to help? We’d love to hear your ideas, and they may spur others on, as well. And pass it on to your friends and family … let’s make this Christmas a time of revival in giving, in the name of Jesus!

Jesus Sees You, Too

"As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on" (Luke 21:1-4).

For some unknown reason, this interaction with Jesus keeps on coming back to my mind this week. As I read through it and reflect on it, I realize that there is alot that we do not know. However, it is what I am able to see that gives me encouragement in the Lord and strength for each day.

I see Jesus, and I see that he looked up. In the previous chapter he was in an intense conversation with his disciples and the teachers of the law, being bombarded with all sorts of questions and challenges. Deep in thought and talk, Jesus looked up and He saw.

He saw the rich and He saw a woman. We read that she was poor and she was a widow. We can assume that she was walking through a dark time in her life. Suffering surrounded her and I imagine that in more ways than one, she had very little reserve.

We know that she went to the temple and she gave all that she could. She got up in the morning, got dressed (I'm assuming) and gave.

And again, Jesus saw her. He not only saw her, but He acknowledged her actions. He knew her circumstance and He knew what she was choosing to do in it.

So, dear reader, how can these four simple verses, describing a minute detail in the greatest story of all time, encourage us? What do we see of Jesus and of ourselves?

First of all, we can get up each day. Maybe we are suffering in a same or different way. If we are not poor or a widow, we may be experiencing other sorts of poverty in our circumstances. We may be worn down with weariness or stretched thin by demands or flat on our backs with desperation, but we can make the choice to get up, get dressed and go about what God is calling us to.

Secondly, we can give what we have to the Lord. When we are walking through a trial, we may not feel as if we have alot to give. We may be too tired, too poor in spirit, too dry to come up with much, but we can give to our Jesus what we have. It may not be much, but God knows. We can give Him our desires, our wills, our dreams, our hopes, our gifts, our hearts. Even if we do not have much to give, we can give to Jesus and trust Him to care for it.

Lastly, I am strengthened and encouraged by the fact that Jesus sees. He looked up and saw the rich and He saw the poor, and He sees us, too. This is the most important part to me. Jesus didn't have to engage in a conversation about the poor widow. He was busy with other issues, but He did.

And, dear reader, He sees you and me, too. When we are feeling full of our fears or swallowed up by our suffering, He sees. He turns His gentle and tender face towards us and cares for us. He knows what we are dealing with and He knows what we do with it. We can believe that He is mercifully and intently watching over us.

Like the widow, rise up and give what little bit that you can, dear reader, to the One who loves you and sees you. You just never know how He may use you.