We had a sort of heat wave here. I even busted out the flip flops. It lasted for all of three days. But still, in that three days, people were going crazy (like myself) and wearing t-shirts, flip flops, and spending time outside. It wasn't really that warm - mid 50s - but in comparison to our negative temperatures and recent blizzard, you would have thought it was 70.
And speaking of the blizzard, that overlapped with "the sickness" that afflicted all my children keeping us homebound for two weeks. You would think in all that time at home that my house would be spotless and my entire To-Do list would be checked off. If you thought that, you thought wrong. My house became something just short of a disaster and my To-Do list expanded. Boo.
Anyway, back to the sunshine. It was not until day 2 of sunshine that I realized my big fail. We were on our way to lunch when at the corner was a man with a backpack and a cardboard sign "Need Work. Need Food. Need Help. God Bless". And it hit me. I never made those bags. I am once again unprepared to help. I didn't have cash. I had all my kids and its past lunchtime, bordering on naptime, and the little man needs a bottle. I had no gift cards. Not even any snacks for the kids. Nothing. I called my husband, who has a backpack of things in his car because he has been visiting our local homeless community once a week. But he was not able to get to our location before the guy left. I was glad that it wasn't one of our blustering winds and raining ice kinds of days. I was thankful that at least there was sunshine and mildly warm temperatures, but the nights are still cold, as it is still February. But sun, or sleet, or snow, I still failed.
I missed my opportunity. Again.
So, when my husband came home from Sam's Club with enough food and such to fill a small bin, I immediately confiscated a variety of items to fill 6 gallon sized Ziploc bags and promptly put them in my car to avoid another missed moment.
I'm ready now. No more excuses.
3 comments:
you, girl, are inspiring.
Courtney you are inspiring. Everytime we see someone in need, we scramble to find somewhere to quickly get a few things...sometimes missing a great opportunity to serve. I love your idea to be prepared for such times to love and serve someone.
You leave me wondering what I can down down here in B-town. We don't exactly have homeless on the street, but the destitute are here...it's just finding them. I so often feel trapped with little ones - that sounds horrible. Trapped, like I can't do mission-minded things because they aren't child friendly. Ordered Missional Moms today. Can't wait.
Post a Comment