Give With Grace!

I was 8 years old and I went on a trip to the grocery store with my Dad. He was buying a lot of items that we already had at our house. When he picked up a pancake flipper I said, “ We already have one of those at home.” He said he knew that but today we were buying things for another family who didn’t have some of the things we had. As he moved the pancake flipper up in the air he explained, “ Sometimes people just need some help to lift things up.”

We drove to a house near the school my Dad taught at he quickly put the groceries and pancake flipper on the front door step and then we left. As an eight year old I was confused. I asked, “ Why didn’t you ring the doorbell.” He looked at me and smiled as he said, “ Sometimes you have to find a way to help the people and the situation without hurting anyone’s pride.”

For the last three years I have been teaching at an inner city school. I have been blessed to work with people who on a daily basis find creative ways to help empower others, who each day come to work to try make a difference and help lift people up. The first time I arrived at this school I really had no idea how much I was about to learn about resilience of the human spirit, poverty and compassion.

I now know what it means to give with grace. I believe you have to work hard to find a way to help people without hurting their pride.