As I write leaves are beginning to tumble, the days are getting shorter and we are on the verge of November. The tumbling leaves are reminiscent of endings as we look back to summer just past.
For the LWR Team the change of seasons marks the end of our most recent collection cycle which wrapped up with blessing of kits and quilts on October 22. The draping of the quilts is a time of remembrance for us as we see the fruits of many months of labor stretched before our eyes in the sanctuary. It is moving to say goodbye and to know, at the same time, that the sending blessing will take the quilts to someone far from us who will be enveloped in the love tied into the knots and the blessing with which they are sent. These gifts bless both those of us who send and those who receive.
The Gifts of Hope we send twice each year do have life changing impacts on lives. Children otherwise left at home are able to go to school and have an opportunity to reach for better futures for themselves and their communities. Soap helps reduce germs and improves the potential for better health. Toothbrushes improve dental health, save teeth and also help improve quality of life. Fabric kits help provide job training leading to skills that provide more stable lives through income generation.
As we pass through November we look forward to Thanksgiving celebrations with family and friends. Please remember the hundreds of small thanksgivings that swell the hearts and improve the lives of the recipients of these Gifts of Hope. Each of us has played at least a small role in sending these many thanksgiving blessings across the earth. Thank you for gifts directly to us and for the funds which flow through your regular donations.
I am thankful every day for the members of the LWR team who invest time and effort every week to complete quilts and assemble kits. Our faithful few have been diligent in fulfilling our call to service.
There are ways that you can support our work. You are welcome and encouraged to join us on Thursdays. You can supply items for our kits. Two things specifically which come to mind are 4 oz. wrapped bars of soap AND 70-100 page spiral notebooks. We will need many of each for our spring shipment and no big sales to reduce costs will happen between now and the end of April.
If seeing the quilts in the sanctuary moved you, I invite you to add some soap and a couple of spiral notebooks to your regular shopping list and help fill the kits and bless the lives of others.
We are each and all called. We have been blessed that we might be a blessing to others. Thank you for the blessing you are to Beautiful Savior congregation. Thank you for the blessing you are to the LWR team. Together we are God’s hands in the world.
- Sharron
Comments