Mmm, mmm good giving

Ryan's kindergarten class has adopted a family for Christmas from the church's mentoring program. The class put together a food basket at Thanksgiving for the same family.

Ryan and his classmates know that this is a family that "doesn't have enough", that's the language I've been using with Ryan since he was 2 to help him understand why it's important to help other people. But the information about this family that has best helped Ryan, an only child with plenty, understand their need is that there are eight children living in a household that doesn't have enough. "And there's only ONE boy," he always adds.

Yesterday as they were decorating the boxes full of food with their holiday artwork of reindeer and snowmen and Santa, Mrs. Solomon, their teacher, made a point to tell the children that they should help, too, they shouldn't just leave it to their parents to fill the boxes.

So last night, Ryan announced that he was going to open the doors to our food cupboard himself and pick something out for this family. I thought he was just going to pick something at random, but Ryan already knew what he was going to select. "I'm going to give them my Batman soup for the ONE boy," he said. And he took out the only can in the cupboard of his favorite soup to add to the basket.

Words cannot reflect the warmth and joy in my heart to see how intentional Ryan was in selecting his contribution. It was a gift to the ONE boy, it was a gift to me, and my hope is that this gift of giving will be a gift to Ryan the rest of his life.