A Volunteer Story That Will Make You Think

If you read yesterdays post, you know the mom leaving the kids at home while she volunteers wasn't working.  But I wanted to do something!  More importantly I wanted the kids to see me helping others so they too will someday want to serve and  give back. An opportunity came 2 years later....a generous soul donated a house where the homeless could  live..people helped to clean and renovate it and it was going to be blessed and families were invited.  So,we all went.  It was a ceremony, with blessings and prayers.  My kids were prepared to be quiet and still.  A little homeless boy who was currently staying with a distant relative because his dad was in jail and his mom was in and out of half way houses was at this ceremony since  he was  living there...he was not still or quiet!  I told my boys to go and play with him ..and somehow figure out a way to keep him quiet.  This little boy knew the house and started showing my boys around ...the back stairway only slaves would use, the secret little passages, the basement with old treasures..what fun he had showing them and what fun my boys had exploring!  The next week I asked if he could come to our house and play with my kids...so  my husband  picked him up and drove him here...when he got here the kids and their friends were all over the place running around..playing baseball, jumping on the trampoline...the little boy said, "Is this big house all just yours?  Do all these kids live here too?"   Then we brought him inside and into our basement, which is a boy mecca....toys,electronics galore etc...the little boy said, "WOW! Is this stuff all yours?"...my boys may have been feeling privileged or guilty and began to offer him  all kinds of toys...they were giving him action figures, cars, dinosaurs, old movies..( don't think they are that generous, this was stuff they grew out of, but it was good stuff)  The little boy then said, " Are you sure about this?  Maybe you should ask your mom."   So they came up and got the ok from me...they had an eventful evening, the first of many.  They were so nice to him, bending the rules, giving him first choice, allowing him to make decisions etc..the 6 year old boy realized this and HE  got a chance to be nice back...when he was leaving he said to  my kids "I want to give you something "  (remember he is homeless)  He reaches in his pocket, and all crumbled up is a fake $100  bill and a folded in half get out of jail free card  from a monopoly game.  He gave them to my boys.  The boys took them  and said thank you.  After we dropped the little boy off, I asked the kids if they realized the gift he had given them...the significance of  those  possessions....he had no money and his dad was in jail...maybe, just maybe  in his mind those things could  someday be real ... so  carried them with him in his pocket.....  AND gave them away to my kids....All of us  learned a lot from that one little homeless boy that night....  Oh my goodness look at todays gospel:Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 21:1-4.

When he looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury
and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
He said, "I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."