What If Someone Urgently Needed What You Have To Give?

Yesterday a friend put out a call out on Facebook. Someone that she knew was in immediate need. A mom of three suffered a house fire and subsequently lost her boys’ clothes and all of her own. My friend asked if anyone could help. My mind immediately went to the overstuffed closet that I have, filled with clothes that are the same size she’s looking for. The closet I’ve been wanting to get to, but have been putting off because of other priorities, like summer, other projects, and family time.

Suddenly though, this project moved from “sometime” or “when I get around to it” to RIGHT NOW. A ‘someday-project’ suddenly had a sense of urgency about it. There was an actual person that wouldn’t just like or benefit from what I possibly had to share. There was someone who NEEDED it. Now, and possibly even yesterday.

In the midst of making a coffee cake, taking care of the kids and cleaning the kitchen, I found 20 minutes out of nowhere logically available, I grabbed a garbage bag, and I headed straight to my room to start bagging. I opened the overstuffed dresser and began making decisions faster than ever before. I wasn’t worried about getting it perfectly done, about making a mistake, or someday maybe missing the shirt that I gave away. Items I had hemmed and hawed over previously became crystal clear yes or no, and for the few that caused a moment more to think, I asked myself would I be happier to wear it or might someone else? I filled one bag faster than ever before and I probably donated about a third of what was there. Easily, effortless, and JOYFULLY!

What was the difference? Someone NEEDED IT. An actual person across town was in sudden and desperate need. And though I still didn’t know a face or a name, it was a real person. That brought a sense of urgency and life to a project that previously was theoretically good or driven by only a vague sense of obligation to an ideal of “a good idea”.

I thought of all of the other projects and ideas, prayers and hopes that are in my heart and that maybe are in yours too. What if we ceased to look at them as nice and admirable things that are on our to-do list. Things that often get relegated to leftover minutes or saved for rainy days that are magically matched by your enthusiasm.

What if you saw every project and idea and dream that is one your heart as URGENT. What if, even without a name or a face yet, you knew that a PERSON was out there, waiting for THE EXACT things that you have in your heart. Waiting for you to speak up, to LOVE, to create, to pray.

What if.

What if we filled this earth, your town, your life, your neighborhood, your heart with all of the goodness that you wish to see, and that you seek to find? What if you dig into the closet of everything you have right now and you shared from what you have judged as maybe not good enough or important enough to share, and you realized the bounty that you have to offer. And you gave it freely and without judgement and with LOVE. Imagine what life might look like if we gave more freely.

As if someone’s life or way of life actually depended on it.

Chances are, right now, it does.

Go into your closets, the projects that wait, the places in your heart where Love beats. Take inventory. Don’t be shy or stingy. Give, freely. Make, create, and Love. The world needs your light.

Xo🙏❤️