Previous Challenge Entry
Topic: Poor (10/25/04)
TITLE: Potty Trained By Kathleen Shelton 10/27/04 |
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT SEND ARTICLE TO A FRIEND |
I was a single mother with just barely enough money to put food on the table and pay the bills. We lived in the rough, run down, poor side of town. I had no car, couldn’t afford the extra for a bus, so I walked back and forth to work. It was just a year after my ex husband had kidnapped my son. Now, here it was Christmas, and I was moaning and groaning in self pity because I could not afford to give my two daughters the Christmas that I wanted to.
I called Sherry and Patti in for a family conference. I explained to both of them that I had only one hundred dollars that I could rake up for Christmas. I told them that each one could have fifty dollars and decide what they wanted for Christmas. They asked if they could think about it.
The next day, they called me to the kitchen table (our favorite gathering place) and informed me that they had decided what they wanted. There was a family down the street who would not have any Christmas at all. The father had recently died, and the struggling mother could not give her children a Christmas. My two daughters informed me that they were old enough to understand, but that these were little children, too young to comprehend not getting any presents.
I hung my head in shame. I was wallowing in self pity, crying because I couldn’t have everything I wanted, and yet, my two beautiful daughters were willing to give up their own Christmas for others. I agreed, gave them the money, and let them go shopping.
A few days later, David P, a customer of mine walked into the shop where I worked. He placed something in my hand with the words "God laid it in my heart to give this to you”, then promptly turned around and walked out the door. I gasped. In my hand was a crisp one hundred dollar bill.
Neither one of my daughters is well off by the world’s standards, but, in my eyes, they are two of the richest people I have had the privilege to know. They both have their share of struggles. Patti is married and the mother of three. Sherry is a single mother of four who works and goes to school full time. Yet, they always seem to find someone who is worse off than them. Each is still willing to sacrifice in order to reach out a helping hand to those that need it. Each still sponsors a less fortunate family at Christmas time. Each has taught their children the gift of giving.
Myself, I had a crash course in being potty trained that year. I had been shown that although I was poor materially, I was indeed rich. Although I could not give all I wanted to my children, I was able to provide all they needed. I had children who understood and showed compassion; children that did not look at or see their own lack and needs, but those of others.
That year was a special year indeed, but, many years later, my daughter enriched my life even more. They gave a richness to my life that I never imagined could be there. They introduced me to Christ.
There are times when I still find myself drawn to the pity pot, when I worry about my finances, when I long for something I cannot afford. But then, I look around and see the ones without a job or home, the ones not knowing where their next meal will come from. Then I think of how blessed my life really is, that although I may not have everything I desire, that unlike so many, I have everything I need.
So even though by human nature, I may slip a time or two and accidentally find myself back on my so well fitted pity pot, I believe that overall, I have been pretty much potty trained. All I have to do is look around and see others who have so much more lack than I and then look ahead to the riches that await me for eternity.
Kathleen Ann Shelton