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Lessons in Compassion

I enlisted the help of my daycare families to bring items to fill our "Christmas for an Orphan" boxes. The needs were simple. Band-Aids, pencils, markers, crayons, toothbrush and toothpaste, stuffed animals, matchbox cars, etc. 

 Yesterday the kids and I organized...........ok, I organized the boxes then the kids rifled through the boxes to see what goodies we were sending (while they did this I talked to the children about the items and how they would be used by the orphans that we were sending them to) and then I reorganized the boxes so that everything would fit! The kiddos were very excited about the gifts that we were sending but were even more excited about the children in whom we were sending the gifts to! 

 Laurie's Little Sprouts, the name of my daycare, sponsors a Guatemalan girl, Karina,through World Help (the same organization that does Christmas for an Orphan). The Little Sprouts and I talk about Karina everyday! We have a picture of her hanging in the dining room. One day I overheard the girls having conversations with Karina. I mean, Karina the picture. Kind of adorable. We are learning Spanish so that we can talk like Karina and we are even learning a little geography as we discuss where Guatemala is (as much as one can learn at the tender age of three). 

 When I first began brainstorming of how to involve the children with sponsoring a child I did not foresee the amount of learning that would take place. The kids have made a personal connection to Karina and because they have this connection they desire to know more about her. This understanding/knowledge is also being backed by compassion. Compassion for others was my goal. My prayer is that these "lessons" that my Little Sprouts and I are learning will multiply, that our lives would be filled with hearts of compassion and a need to help others. 

Zechariah 7:9-10 
“Thus says the Lord of hosts:
‘Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.’
Gifts of Hope from World Help on Vimeo.

 Check out World Help's "Gifts of Hope" to see how you can show mercy and compassion to those who could really use a gift of hope this Christmas. 

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  1. Michele-Lyn December 11, 2013 at 6:31 PM

    This is so such an inspiring story. I love the vision you have for those little ones you are leading. And this, "My prayer is that these 'lessons' that my Little Sprouts and I are learning will multiply, that our lives would be filled with hearts of compassion and a need to help others." Yes, and amen!

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