Something Bigger than Themselves

Our church meets in a school. Out of the ordinary, I know, but this is no ordinary church :-). Due to Hurricane Ike the school has remained closed and we have not had service the past two weeks. Last week my kiddos and I went to church in Temple with Jamie and Ariana (which was fabulous) and we were lost last night when we thought we were not going to have church today. We just do not miss church (unless we are sick). I had gotten an email that our church, in lieu of services, was holding a food drive for the community center that we support. There would be teams of people passing out fliers and collecting food at various Kroger and Chik fil a locations. I almost laughed as I thought of my brood running around driving everyone (including me) crazy while others were trying to accomplish this noble cause. Well, needless to say, when we woke up this morning I felt- deep in my heart- that we should go. So, everyone got dressed, filled our cooler with ice, and struck out. I explained to the kids when we pulled up what we were doing and refrained from threatening lives for bad behavior (I somehow felt is wasn't warranted). We assigned the kiddos to the 2 entrances and, though shy at first, they took their responsibility seriously and passed out a ton of fliers to Kroger shoppers. The shoppers responded in full force and we collected a ton of food. The kids were so proud of themselves. Then we made the decision to follow the caravan over to the community center to drop off the food. At first Greg and I thought that we would again be in the way with all the kids underfoot, but I thought it was important for them to see the whole process through. We got to the community center and the kids were eager to help load groceries into the center. It was so cute to see my little 5 year old carrying a 10 lb can of beans yelling, I won't drop it - I promise (he of course dropped it). On the way home all the kids could talk about was how much food they had helped the center get. They understood the big picture of what they had done and were extremely proud of themselves. I regret the fact that we almost did not do it because I thought the children would be a nuisance but instead they learned a valuable lesson in doing something that is bigger than themselves and I learned a valuable lesson- never underestimate what your children can do.