My daughter, Maddie, turned 10 on March 28th. Birthdays are a big deal in our family, and Maddie usually starts thinking about hers the day after Christmas. :) She has lots of friends and wants to include everyone in the festivities, which can be challenging on our limited birthday budget. So, thinking I would get a jump on it, I asked her in early March what she wanted to do for her birthday this year. I expected her to say, "Have a sleepover.", or "Go roller skating with my friends." To my surprise, she didn't say either of those things. But what she did say blessed my heart and made me proud. "Mom, I can't really think of anything I want this year, except a Hannah Montana movie. So I was thinking that maybe..." Here it comes, I thought. She wants to invite the whole world and have a three-day festival commemorating the day of her birth. I started to feel nauseous. "..that maybe, instead of asking for presents this year, I'll just ask for donations to help abused kids." What?? Did I hear that right? A ten-year-old girl--the ten-year-old girl who lives in my house, no less-- is voluntarily giving up gifts to help hurting kids?? It took a minute for that to soak in. But, knowing Maddie like I do, I shouldn't have been surprised. She's always had a tender heart toward others, and more than once, she's asked to use the computer to make "flyers" to initiate a penny drive at school to help those less fortunate.
How can a mother turn down a request like that? "Let's do it!" I said, and we got right to work. After much discussion and thought, she decided to donate the money she raised to Royal Family Kids Camp, the nation's largest network of camps for abused and neglected children. Our county has the highest child abuse and neglect rates in the state, and our church sponsors a Royal Family Kids Camp every summer. So Maddie has heard about and seen the tragic consequences of child abuse and neglect in church, school and even in our family since her adopted sister was neglected in early childhood. All these factors convinced Maddie that giving up her gifts for RFKC was a perfect fit.
Next, Maddie typed a letter explaining what she planned to do and sent it to our extended family, her church and school friends and a few close family friends. The party was simple--a room @ the church and plenty of cake, soda, balloons and, of course, Hannah Montana movies and CD's playing all three hours. Everyone had a great time, and the end result was amazing! With God's blessing and the generosity of many people, Maddie was able to raise $1,600 for the Royal Family kids--enough to send three or four kids to camp this summer.
This has been such an eye-opening experience for our family, and I want to share with you the lessons we've learned, the first of which is you do NOT, I repeat, do NOT, have to be wealthy, influential or part of an altruistic army to make a very real difference in the world. All it takes is one person, even one very small person, with a heart of compassion and a desire to look @ the tough stuff in this life and try to make things better.
Jesus taught that it is "more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35), but to most of us, those words just don't ring true. But God showed us the truth in that statement in an upclose and personal way. I have never seen Maddie as happy and joyful as she was this year. Her face lit up each time she opened a card that contained money--not for her, but for someone else--and she beamed with delight for several days after. She experienced the true, deep joy of giving that no pile of presents can ever replace. Someday, she'll forget the clothes, movies and books that she usually gets for her birthday. But, the memory of reaching out to "the least of these" can never be erased.
We're all familiar with the law of sowing and reaping. I mean no one expects flowers or fruit to grow without first putting a seed into the ground. This law seems so obvious when we think about how it works in nature. But I'm learning that it's just as powerful in everyday life. It really is true that you get what you give, and Maddie's big-giving adventure demonstrated that in spades. God puts it this way, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Luke 6:38). Maddie started with a small seed of compassion, planted it firmly in love, watered it with hope and faith. But it was God who made it grow. He made the love and generosity of one little child blossom into something beautiful and life-changing--for Maddie, for Maddie's mom and most importantly, for some precious Royal kids.
