Blessing Others

A toothbrush, toothpaste, a tuna snack pack, hand warmers, socks, Oreos, soap, and a bottle of water is what I gathered and placed into a plastic bag. These were the blessing bags we put together in our MOPS group last month. The idea is that as a mom and as a Jesus follower we want to show the love of Jesus, the compassion of Jesus with those around us.

So often we don’t know how to show this love, especially to the homeless. We are busy. We are tired. We are worried. We are pulled to our limits both physically and in our finances. It becomes a real struggle for many who want to help, but don’t know how.

I made three of these blessing bags and have handed out two of them. The first one I handed out to a man on the side of the road. He was thankful. The second one, however, made my day. I was in a hurry on my way to pick up one of my daughters.

As I pulled off the highway I could see the person standing on the side of the road. There were no other cars and the light was green. I came up to the light and saw that it was a woman.

As I pulled up to the green light I looked around and saw that nobody would be waiting for me if I took a little extra time to stop and hand a bag to the lady. She ran over to my car saying, “Thank you, thank you” with such a big smile and joy on her face.

She continued to express such an amazing amount of gratitude for this really very small act on my part. It took me three minutes to put the bags together and I didn’t even spend any money to make them. Her large smile and heartfelt gratitude for this small act of kindness have stuck with me.

From January 19th-26th, St. Luke will host 25 homeless men. This is a Rotating Shelter program set up by the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, which is centered at the Delonis Center in downtown Ann Arbor. We will be providing rides, evening dinner, overnight hosts, and help with laundering towels.

If you have a chance to serve this week I am sure you will be blessed with heartfelt thanks, kind words, and smiles from the men served. To read a personal story from someone who has served, read Dirty, Crazy, Scary Fears.

This is a great opportunity for groups, individuals, and families to serve together, serve their community, and serve as Jesus served. It takes a lot of volunteers to make this work. There will be sign-up tables that will have specifics and a chance to let us know what you could do to help. Please stop by and talk to us. Contact Alan Morgan (734-649-1966) if you have further questions or if you would like to serve!

There will be drop boxes to collect toiletries for the men we will be serving this week.