Green Beans = Love
>> Wednesday, February 23, 2011 –
community,
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Welcome, Amy – and thank you for blessing me and so many with your sustaining words.
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Green Beans = Love
A Guest Post by Amy Sullivan
It starts with a need.
A family waiting on the release of their ten-day-old baby boy. A daughter making long-term living arrangements for her sick father. A woman undergoing cancer treatment. People who may not know each other, but people sharing the heavy weight of a hospitalized family member. People temporarily living here, the Rathbun Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
This story involves another group of people. Not a bunch of do-gooders, mind you, just a plain ‘ol regular bunch of people. People who want to help.
But how?
What can we give?
Does anyone really want what we have to offer?
Do we have the skills required?
The chairs fill and hushed voices whisper. We listen. We serve. We share stories.
Little hands color pictures to brighten dark rooms and doorways.
And we walk away changed because we are fairly certain that sometimes green beans equal love.
[Thank you, Amy!]
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Yes, thank you, Amy for writing! I love your spot and your heart. This looks like a lovely place for families in need.
looks like a fun place to serve! Thanks for sharing this story!!
this sweet thing always challenges me to get up and 'do'! She has a beautiful heart...she is an example to me. Thanks Amy, and that picture of you up there? Beautiful!
love you amy and michelle! two of my favs together. great post, amy! thakns for the pics.
I loved seeing the girl with the baby serving because how many times do we think that having babies and toddlers at home makes us "not available" to serve others for a loooong season of life. It just takes a little more creativity and sometimes changing up the schedule but so worth it. You are really challenging me in this area, Amy. We have been slack in serving others as an entire family. Sometimes it's easier to do it myself then to talk through an opportunity with my kids and get the whole fam together. I'm praying through what this looks like for us as a family.
Yes, I agree with Melody! Too often I decline a serving opportunity because I think that my kids won't be able to participate, or that they'll be too much trouble, or that they'll complain the whole time. I'm not saying that our experiences have been perfect (just the other day my oldest proclaimed, when I mentioned the time we served at a soup kitchen here in town, "Oh I hated that!"), but for the most part it's been fulfilling for the whole family.
I also loved the part in the post where Amy asks, "Do we have the skills required?" I know I sometimes fall back on that as an excuse, assuming that a particular task isn't "my calling" or that I don't have the skills necessary. But so often, very little skills are required. Just the simple ingredients: obedience and love!
You've got me thinking today, Amy -- thank you!!
Two of my favorite people together! Yay!
Those look like some amazing green beans, and I love the hands coloring. Simple gifts can make such a profound impact...on the receivers and the givers (and now on us as you invite us into the story).
Thank you, Amy! And thanks for hosting the party, Michelle!
*sigh*. Thank you, Amy, thank you, Michelle. I love green beans even more now.
What a vivid and colorful picture(s) of beauty . . . serving. Now I just might have to fix green beans for dinner as I think about this post:)
First of all, MIchelle, thanks for inviting me here today! I love your space and the heart behind your writing. I connect so much with your words, and I can't wait to read your memoir. . . good things are coming.
Everyone else,
Thank you for reading, your comments, and constant encouragement. So lucky to call all of you bloggy girls friends.
As a mom of three little ones, the mother with her baby strapped to her belly immediately convicted me. I've definitely been that mother who said, "When they get a little older..." Thanks for the challenging post!
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your heart, as unto the Lord--including making green beans. By the way, those beans look way better than any I've ever made. I echo what many said above--so nice to see such dear friends together in one place.
How beautiful! And how simple!! I, too, use my boys too often to "get out of" serving others. What lesson am I teaching them when I keep them at home watching "Mickey Mouse" rather than nurturing their hearts through service to others.
I heard a speaker say at an anti-bullying workshop a few years ago, that children do not know how to show empathy anymore. She went on to say that we, as parents and teachers, must find ways to teach our kids about empathy each and every day if we want them to actually be compassionate, caring adults. Kind of scary.
So good to see Amy here today! I love to see practical ways that we can be the hands and feet of Christ. Something as simple as green beans and crayon colored papers can make a huge impact on someones life. Great reminder today!
So great. I especially love that you did this with your kids. I want to minister to others with my kids too - to have them right there with me while I'm serving and helping, or visiting... whatever it is, I want them to share those experiences and see what it is to give love, and what can happen when we do.
(I can't wait to read, live and share more stories like that!)
Thanks Amy!