God Loves a Cheerful Giver

On Sunday we took up a special offering to aid the relief efforts in Haiti. (This was supposed to have taken place last week, but didn't because of church cancellation, because of wide-spread, long-lasting power outages. A blog to come, so stay tuned.)  I wanted Lilyanna to have the chance to participate by giving some money from her piggy bank.  So, we talked about Haiti, about earthquakes, about the children and families who are in need of so much right now.  And about how we can pray for them and if we send some money, it can help repair houses and schools and get them medicine, blankets and food. Then we opened her piggy bank and asked her how much she wanted to give.  Now, I realize that she doen't really understand earthquakes, seeing as how she was linking the idea to one of her books in which a giant walking around makes the ground shake.  And I realize that she doesn't really understand the value of a dollar.  But her concern for the children living in Haiti and her desire to give something of hers to help them was real. And as we prayed for them and she emphatically piped up stating God is there and in their hearts, I knew that the shoot of compassion growing up in her heart was real too.  And, of course, so were the tears stinging my eyes.