Humbled

I found out today that one of my kids has a teammate that did not get anything for Christmas this year because his family is going through some tough financial times. My eyes welled up with tears as I thought about how this boy had to hear most of his friends talk about what they got for Christmas, and more likely, list an overabundance of gifts.

My face stung when I heard this news because I felt like a fraud for ever suggesting that my life can sometimes seem hard to me. Because what do I really know about hardship? Nothing.

I talk about how growing up my parents worked their butts off to provide for my siblings and I and that I know they wish they could have provided more, and I realize that I  lived the childhood of a queen.

I don't know what it means to truly struggle. I know what it is like to perceive that I am struggling, but I don't really know what true struggle is. And I am embarrassed that I have ever projected my life as having any real struggle because in reality, I don't know what that looks like.

I cannot imagine struggling to put food on the table. Or not being able to provide my children with basic necessities. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have to worry about paying an electric bill or being kicked out of my home. I cannot imagine sending my children to school hungry, and how much, as a mother that would break my heart.

I was humbled today because poverty was no longer an abstract concept to me. It was no longer something that some distant and unknown people struggle with.  I can now put a face to poverty. I live a life of luxury and hem and haw about my "struggles", but really I am living the life of a queen - and most likely, so are you.

The hard stuff with Sarah is nothing. Bob and I are able to provide medical care for her and we are able to get her the assistance that she needs to lead her a successful life. Sarah lives a life of luxury as do all of my children. And even if sometimes I feel that they are going without, I know what a joke that really is.

I think about how much I struggled with not being able to provide my kids more gifts for Christmas and for staying within a budget. I feel sick to my stomach even complaining about that now knowing that this young man received nothing. Not one thing.

We live in a world with the "have's" and the "have not's" and we are told & made to feel that the "have's" are really "have not's" and that we need to acquire all of these items and all this wealth to be part of the "have" club. This is a lie. We are almost all living a life of "have's" and we know nothing of the  "have not's" struggles. It is a down right shame that I have ever thought my self to be a "have not" in any category of my life.

When I think about that sweet boy and his equally sweet family I wonder how many things they are going without right now that I have no idea about. Those with little rarely make it known just how great their need is. They just go about their business doing the best that they can to make a life and to provide for their children. While people like me, sit in their  homes and complain about how hard life is. What a joke.

What people like me should be doing is helping people like this young man and his family. We all should. That is our job as human beings to take care of one another. Maybe you don't have a lot of money to spend to help out others. What about time? Surely, you have time?

How we spend our moments is how we spend our lives. Remember that. If you take a moment here and there to help someone - either financially or with your time - there is such goodness in the life you will build. Do not ask for anything in return. Rather, ask those you help to pay it forward, and when they are one day in a spot where they can give to someone in need that they do so. 

Moving down to New Mexico has opened my eyes to the plight of the poor and those truly in need. Yes, there were those people back in Ohio too, but I did not see them because they were hidden from my blind eyes. Down here, a city in desert with no where to hide, my eyes have been opened. I am passionate about helping others. And I am passionate about being able to show my children that helping those in need is the greatest gift they can give this world.

It is our job and it is our duty to help others. And the best part is that you feel so good doing so. Giving to others and serving others is God's greatest gift.