Make a Move and Do Something!

Have you ever been driving and pulled up to a stoplight and there was a person standing on the corner

holding a sign, asking for food or money or both?

I'll go first with my confession.

I've groaned when I spot them.  I feel awkward that I am sitting in a warm or cold (depends on the season) car with a full stomach and a home to sleep in that night.  I feel skeptical that the money I may hand them is used for food and not for alcohol.  And sometimes I have groaned because I am dismayed that their need makes me feel guilty for what I do have.  As if they are an inconvenience to me and my conscience.

I'm pretty sure I am not the only one who feels this way.  I've seen other people at the same stoplight, staring straight ahead trying to ignore the needy person standing there asking for help.  I know what the "stare straight ahead and don't look them in the eye" means because I have done it myself.

Can anyone out there relate to me?  It's okay if you have, you are not alone.

But I don't groan anymore.

A few years ago I went on a little trip across many oceans and land masses. I landed in East Africa and I walked through the oldest slum in that part of the continent.  I walked right by some of the homeless and poverty stricken of that city and I looked into eyes that held no hope, I saw the defined bones of those who had no food, I smelled those who had no access to facilities to clean themselves up.  I saw the attempts and the remnants of attempts to generate some sort of income for the bare basics.

Then I traveled back across those oceans and land masses and I set foot on the soil of my city. And I saw the homeless people in my city, in my nation, with different eyes and a different heart.  So the first time I pulled up to a corner where a homeless person stood after my trip to East Africa I didn't groan.  I prayed for them.  I wasn't prepared and I felt like the 2 pennies I found in the cup holder might be more of an insult than a blessing so I just prayed...that time. 

A few years ago, after I had traveled back and forth to East Africa twice, I heard this song by Royal Tailor and was floored by the lyrics.  The song so perfectly verbalized the ponderings of my heart.  Without noticing it, I do get captured by the unimportant and I forget what God considers to have value. It's too easy to be captured and to forget what my eyes have witnessed and my heart has absorbed.  It became clear to me that unless I make a move and do something to keep what God values at the forefront of my life I will forget and allow the unimportant to regain its grip on my life.  

I decided to invite others to join me in this intentional move to do things that bring actual value to the lives of others.  My first move was to make up bags for the homeless in our city.  We would make up as many as we possibly could and deliver them to our local Rescue Mission.  I sent out a call to action and our first "Make A Move" Event happened at my house in 2012. We came together - regardless of denominations, political parties, color of skin, doctrinal beliefs, and any other difference you can come up with - and assembled toiletry/necessity kits for the homeless in our town. The second time we did it we delivered bags to the Rescue Mission but challenged everyone to keep a few and hand them out as they saw those people standing on street corners.  It's one thing to make up the bags and get the warm fuzzies for doing a good deed but it takes on a whole different meaning when you are the one to hand it to someone in need and engage them in some conversation. Something happens when you look in the eyes of the person taking the bag from your hand, when you touch their arm to speak value to them, and you see that they are just like you.  

The second Saturday of every month a group of people - regardless of denominations, political parties, color of skin, doctrinal beliefs, and any other difference you can come up with - come together and prep a meal and then serve it for the residents of a Salvation Army shelter in our town.  Even the kids help serve. We don't shy away from looking them in the eye, smiling at someone who may be scowling, lending a literal hand to someone who is using a walker to get around.  We make sure we treat them just like we would people we meet in a restaurant, at the church we go to, in a store. We make sure they know we don't pity them but we have empathy for their situation.  In my experience most homeless people don't want pity, it feels degrading to them just as it does to someone who lives in a 3000 square foot home and has two full refrigerators and a freezer full as well.    

Since my first trip to East Africa in 2007 I have been alert to the needs of others.  That's what an expanded worldview will do, give you eyes to see beyond yourself.  So I'm always interested to pitch in and be literal hands and feet on behalf of Christ.  Here's the thing about being a need-meeter.  It doesn't have to be grandiose and splashy.  In fact, the more unassuming it is the better.  If all we ever witnessed were showy ways of helping others then we would never know what the small and seemingly insignificant things actually did in the hearts and lives of the recipients.  

Last week my co-workers and I participated in a nationwide event our organization hosted called Live (Service) Out.  In each city that our radio station (wayfm.com) has a listener base we invited our listeners to join us for two days of local community service. Throughout the nation we collectively built homes, fences, and other build needs. We planted flowers, pulled weeds, and landscaped. We washed cars, served food, and looked people in the eye.  In my city my co-workers and I went to a local care center/nursing facility and spent some time with the residents there. A staff member produced a tub of nail polish and home manicure items and asked if we would paint nails.  It was AWESOME! It was so much fun to pamper those women in that way and to be able to sit knee to knee with them and love on them. Some of the residents don't have any family that come visit so loneliness is a reality. We served by easing the loneliness of these precious people.  

You may think that painting nails is insignificant and accomplishes nothing but let me tell you about 2 women who would disagree with you. Kimberly just turned 60 on June 12.  She's at the care facility due to what appears to be a stroke.  A co-worker, Silvia, and I went in to her room and she was beyond excited to have her nails done. Turns out Kimberly was a beautician and, in her words, "I love polish on my nails."  Kimberly's right hand and fingers were turned inward from her injury but we figured out a way to hold her hand and fingers so we could get the polish on and let it dry.  Kimberly was so pleased. She thanked us over and over and kept exclaiming how wonderful it was to have someone do this for her. This was incredibly significant to Kimberly.  It spoke value to her, that people were willing to address obstacles she presented in order to pamper her a little bit.  The other woman is Connie.  Connie is very unhappy.  She doesn't smile, she doesn't speak to people, not even the baby we had or the therapy puppy could crack the wall Connie has built around herself. But we all continued to speak kindly to her and offer to do something with her.  She shook her head no every time.  After Kimberly's nails were dry, Silvia and I headed to a different area of the facility and Connie was walking down the hall toward us. As she shuffled toward us we said, "Hi Connie, would you like to get your nails painted?"  She stopped and stared and worked her mouth. "Yes." Whoa! Connie agreed to interact with us! She abruptly rummaged through the colors of polish, quickly picked out her color and looked at us. We quickly moved to an area where there was seating and Silvia and I each took a hand.  We asked Connie questions, trying to get her to engage more but she wouldn't. She just sat there and looked at us painting her nails.  A staff member walked by and stopped.  She greeted Connie and then told us that we should feel special that Connie was allowing us to do her nails. We said we did feel honored and the staff member said, "No, you don't understand.  Connie doesn't let anyone - even staff - do that for her."  WOW.  Once Connie's nails were dry enough she shuffled off and Silvia and I did a little victory fist pump.  Somehow, in a way we don't understand, we broke through Connie's wall for just a moment and spoke value over her. We believed something may have shifted in her heart, for the rest of the time we were there that day she had a softer look on her face. I don't call that insignificant, I consider that to be of the utmost significance.  

So what can YOU do? What move can you make?  What is something you can DO?  Remember, it doesn't have to be loud and splashy, cost a lot of money, or be somewhere in another part of this big world.  Here's some ideas to get your hands and feet moving:

• Create homeless bags (also called Blessing Bags by some) for the people in your town.  
• Hold a coat/hat/glove drive and drop them off to your local Rescue Mission.
• Host a diaper/wipes drive and make a delivery to your local Pregnancy Center.
• Clean out your closet and find an organization that will help people find jobs and needs to dress them.
• Purchase nail colors and home manicure items and delivery them to a nursing home - stay and paint nails for the afternoon!
• Look for local organizations that offer maintenance services to single moms and offer to lend a hand - anyone can paint! :) 
• Donate non-perishable food items to a local food bank.
• Has that neighbor's weedy yard been bugging you? Go de-weed it for them! 
• Stalk the local grocery store and offer to carry groceries for elderly and disabled/injured people or parents with not enough arms to handle both groceries and children. 
• Find a store that still has doors that you have to manually open and be an unofficial doorperson for an hour or two. Offer your assistance and a smile, maybe it's the only smile that person will see all day. 
• Go hand out cold water to your postal carrier, garbage service drivers, etc.

See? The ideas and possibilities of how to be literal hands and feet to others is endless.  So what are you waiting for?  Make a move and do something!