last night we had an arts & crafts table at tapestry. at least that’s the way a 7 year old girl who was there described it. i was ending our discussion on resurrection and talking about my belief that the resurrection means that what we do now matters for eternity. to use a line from gladiator “what we do in life echoes through eternity.” so i made a comparison with sand art and camp romances – two very temporary things. during the commitment time we had out a table with bottles and coloured sand. i encouraged people to go grab a bottle and make their own sand art as a physical reminder not to let this summer or their young couple years be a waste. i thought that a couple of people might do it at most but it would serve as a reminder for all of us. as usual, i was wrong. we VERY quickly ran out of the 20 bottles i had bought.
SIDE NOTE – for mother’s day gifts i borrowed a great idea from my friends at the ring. instead of wasting money on trinkets or flowers to give to our thread moms i contributed the money we would have spent to world vision to buy mother/baby kits. tapestry then gave the moms a card that said the following:
Happy Mother’s Day 2009
You deserve a special gift for “mothering” (be it by giving birth or protecting and maturing the smallest and weakest). Buying you a cheap bookmark with a cheesy sentiment just doesn’t seem special enough to acknowledge what you have done and will do. Neither does buying you a flower that will wilt or giving you one of the many other small, breakable trinkets that are so often passed out at church on Mother’s Day.
So here’s what we at Tapestry decided to do to celebrate you on this day. Instead of wasting money on trinkets we have contributed the money we would have spent on those trinkets to buy “Mother/Baby Kits” through World Vision. Helping other mothers walk in your example is the best way we could figure out how to celebrate how you take care of the smallest and weakest and guide us all to be adults.
on the other side of the card…
What’s a Mother/Baby Kit?
Many mothers in countries like Angola, Romania, and East Timor lack basic supplies and knowledge to properly care for their newborns, many of whom may be underweight or otherwise vulnerable. Your gift will provide essentials such as a bassinet, diapers, a blanket, a container for clean water, a baby bathtub, and soap. Plus, pregnant women attending prenatal sessions will be trained in providing the best possible care for their precious infants.
those guys and girls at the ring have amazing ideas. i’m glad they are my friends. that way i don’t feel as bad about borrowing their brilliant ideas and passing them off as my own. 😉
