The Titus 2:4 Project - Women Mentoring Women

Every December, the pressure creeps in — the ads, the expectations, the endless lists of things we feel like we should buy. Bigger. Better. More. But if you’re anything like me, when you pause long enough to think about it, you start to realize… the gifts that truly last rarely come wrapped in shiny paper. Do you remember what you got for Christmas last year? How about five years ago… or twenty? A few years back, I read a post on a county-wide social media page from a mom who was desperately looking for “cheap gifts” so her kids would have enough to open on Christmas morning. The classic struggle of quantity over quality. And if I’m honest, I’ve fallen into that same trap more times than I’d like to admit. Her post transported me back to a Christmas forty-seven years ago, when my parents didn’t have much money to spare. As a child, I didn’t understand layoffs or budgets, but I knew my dad had been out of work at General Motors for a long stretch. That year, my parents gave me a gift...

Christmas with seven children is a level of chaos that I find it hard to explain… even all these years later.  The limited budget versus the mile-long wish lists. The limited days in a week versus the never-ending schedule of holiday programs, band concerts and classroom parties.  The limited energy I felt versus the growing list of things that needed to be done. The limited chances to focus on the true meaning of Christmas versus the overwhelming pressure to make Christmas into something it was never meant to be. I was exhausted by early October just thinking about it – before the pumpkins were even carved for Halloween. It seemed like our kids were never satisfied, always wanting something they didn’t get… and the guilt over never feeling like I had done enough was disheartening. We all had expectations that weren’t being met. Christmas didn’t feel “warm and fuzzy” like I thought it would. Honestly, it felt more like a chore. But somewhere along the way, I found a way to rev...

Today I got to help deliver lunches to several school-aged children that the local school has labeled as the ones most in need of proper nutrition during the summer, when they are not able to get free breakfast and lunch from the cafeteria.  It's a city-wide program that some group organizes, then recruits other groups (like Rotary Club) to pick three or four days during the summer to provide meals.  That's how I got involved - as a Rotarian.  We delivered boxed Subway lunches, which always draws a smile from the little faces that peek through the window to see who's knocking on their door. Only a few (usually an adult) acted as if they expected or were owed this lunch for their children, but when we were greeted at the door by a youngster, their eyes lit up and they always thanked us, some in a mere whisper, others with a boisterous "Thank you!" as they waved enthusiastically.  That's why volunteers do what they do...for the happy faces left in their wake a...