The Gift of Advent

I am big on Advent and Lent.

I am big on prep work.

I think half the fun of getting ready for celebrations... and sorrows... is the prep work that turns busy hands into sharers of grief and joy. Laughter through tears is truly my favorite emotion.

We can simplify it and call it a Martha mindset, but I think it goes deeper than that.

It's a nurturer mode. It's what makes some folks great nurses, teachers, health aides, home aides, mothers, fathers, ministers, day care providers...

I see Advent like that.

Prep time! A time of sharing, a time of prayerfulness, a time of repentance (and that's a beautiful thing!), a time of sacrifice and helping and being a better version of ourselves. Maybe even carrying some of that over to our everyday lives.

This Advent has been quiet and wonderful.... according to plan.

And then disaster struck on December 10th and 11th.

A major conflux of storm systems created record-breaking tornadoes across five states. Tornadoes that destroyed home, health, livelihoods. Tornadoes that leveled towns. Flattened churches. Took lives.

It is a dreadful situation. The logistics of a December stream of hundreds of possible tornado sightings and one that stayed on the ground for a record-breaking 227 miles.

Did you know that the United States has FOUR TIMES more tornadoes than all the other countries that ever have tornadoes combined? The unique head-on battle between the Rocky Mountains cold air and warmth pushing north from the Gulf of Mexico result in what becomes a toxic mix of physics, meteorology and force, resulting in strong storms that spew tornadic venom.

LINK TO WAPO STORY ON DAWSON SPRINGS

But this Advent, we can take our good wishes, our prayers, our beliefs and put them to work helping those in the storm's path. Helping those who've lost everything and helping those helping them.

Remember after 9/11, how Fred Rogers told the kids that it's okay to be scared because sometimes scary things happen. But then he advised them to look for the helpers... There are always helpers, he said.

Fred was right. When disaster hits, my family looks for the helpers. We know that national and international organizations can do wonderful work, but we like to know that the bulk of our funds go to the intended outreach, and so we look for local churches.

I search through readers, through Facebook posts, through whatever I need to and we designate that person/organization/church to be our hands and feet of Christ on the ground. Having helped many folks over the years, I know that bins and boxes and bags of old clothes come pouring in.

Frankly, they need cash. One thing I always admired about the Salvation Army in NYC was that the commanders had access to cash and they would take that to the streets to help those after 9/11 and Superstorm Sandy. When power is out for days and weeks... when plastic cards are unusable... when there's no clean water, no bathrooms (imagine that!) and no place to stay, cash is king.

I remember my son having to sleep on friends' couches for months after Sandy hit Lower Manhattan.

I met a waitress there who lost her job and couldn't work for a year until things were re-built because there were no places to work.

That lost income was monumental at her level... there were no government bailouts.  There was no work from home. There were only helping hands and friends. And that's what we can become this Advent.

We are part of the story. We are part of the framework. And there is a heartfelt Christmas feeling in reaching out and giving. And when we can't give (totally understandable) we pray.

I drove through Joplin, Missouri with Mary Connealy a year after that devastating F-5 tornado swept through town.

It was still a disaster area. The rubble and debris had been swept clean, but all across the landscape, all you saw were pipes sticking up out of slabs of concrete and broken trees.... it was mind-boggling because we don't tend to see the aftermath up north. I did, that day and it was a wake-up call.

News ebbs after a week or two.... after the final funeral.... but our hearts know that the work goes on.

And that's when our family reaches out to a local church to find out who's falling through the cracks. Because someone always falls through the cracks, and pastors and their church staff often know who they are... and how to help.

The Kentucky Governor's office has set up this disaster relief fund and they promise that no fees are taken out of the funds (this is important because a lot of funds are hit with 3 to 10% fees that scrape that percentage off of donations)  WESTERN KENTUCKY TORNADO RELIEF

I've seen folks from Joplin raising money for Mayfield... I see colleges raising money for disaster relief. Facebook folks.... Samaritan's Purse, Salvation Army and the Red Cross.... and while this is probably ALL GOOD, I'm simply posting the Kentucky governor's link.... 

Our family Christmas gift this year will be to this disaster relief because honestly, dear friends... there is nothing we need. We are blessed. And quietly sharing that blessing is like standing by that lowly manger with a hot meal for Mary and Joseph.

Since we can't do that... we'll do this.

And while the gift of our hands reaches people in need, we'll pray for all those folks' well-being.

Bestselling, multi-published inspirational author Ruth Logan Herne is kind of bossy, and she's a pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps kind of gal, and she gets a little hard-nosed about this and that and the other thing, but she loves God so much that every now and again she does something nice. SHE DOES NOT WANT THAT TO GET AROUND, OKAY????  :)

You can chat with Ruthy via email at loganherne@gmail.com and on Facebook at Ruth Logan Herne... 

She and the whole Herne/Blodgett family send you their very best wishes for a beautiful, spiritual Christmas from the very muddy lands of Western New York.