open those blinds and look out the window!

It can be so easy when you are raising a family to get caught up in your own lives, forgetting to look out for the needs of others. This can be especially the case when young children demand most of your time, love, energy, and attention. But as I look at our children who are approaching late elementary age, I long to find ways to divert their attention from themselves to the needs of the world around them.

Last March we received a letter from Campus Crusade for Christ, asking for help for orphans in Zimbabwe. We have plenty of requests like this come our way through various organizations, and try to donate when we can. This particular letter left me feeling burdened, as it was only last fall our pastor shared his trip to Zimbabwe with us at a prayer meeting. The spiraling inflation in that country makes the economic troubles of the US look pretty tame. Families are starving, work is scarce, farms have failed, and cholera is ravaging many.

In April I shared this burden with our kids, and we began to set aside items for a garage sale. It took all summer to find time to have the sale, but this weekend we finally did it! So far we have raised over $50 to send to Campus Crusade.

Having a sale to raise money for someone besides myself has been quite freeing. I find myself looking more closely at the people who come, wondering about their lives and their story. A smiling baby, mother-daughter duos, and lone men scour the sale in hope of a treasure. I'm more than happy to bargain, adding whatever dollars I can to our total for children I will never meet this side of heaven. My kids helped set things out and will help sort them when we are done, to be consigned or donated. And I plan to have them there when I donate online.

For more ideas on teaching kids compassion, I found a great book! It is called Raising Unselfish Children in a Self-Absorbed World by Jill Rigby. I'm halfway through the book, and it's turning my parenting ideas upside down, and knocking my own self-centeredness off course. Look for my weekly challenges to help my children learn to serve and care for others.