THE AWKWARD MOM

because uncomfortable conversations are the ones worth having

Tag: poverty (page 1 of 3)

Helping the Powerless: That Time it Saved His Family

Reading Time: 5 minutes

If someone ever asked me what surprised me about living in Africa, I’d have a million answers. Nearly every day held in its ebony hands something to learn or figure out or shake my head over: a motorcycle carrying a coffin. A girl made to sell banana pancakes for a dime in a dangerous neighborhood rather than go to school. Birds the color of the sky.

But I could never have known how working and living among and helping the powerless would change me–to the point it’s now a vital spiritual discipline in my book–and quite arguably, in God’s.

helping the powerless read more

Spiritual Life Skills: 10 Ways to Teach Compassion (with book list!)

Reading Time: 6 minutes

I don’t know about you, but back-to-school prep is real, folks.

Your kids are asking if they need shots (which makes you, in turn, ask if they need shots.) You’re buying 8-packs of dry erase markers, enough pencils to take the SAT every day for an entire year, and wondering if you could still repurpose that lunchbox with the barbecue sauce stain on it that looks like Ronald Reagan. read more

Why We Can’t Afford to Leave Helping the Poor Up to That Committee [FREE INFOGRAPHIC]

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hypothetical question. Let’s say someone asked you to help an impoverished family this holiday season. Who would you help first?

Maybe this feels a little tricky.

Maybe like me, your house isn’t really all that close to people who need help. read more

Guest post: 12 Discussion Starters to Help Kids Think Personally about Poverty

Reading Time: 2 minutes
Open House kids playing hospitality

Playing with a friend in Uganda

A couple of weeks ago my trusty Subaru was packed with a bunch of sweaty kids (mine), headed home from our organization’s picnic. The mood was light, the windows down. We played two of my admittedly weird games:

  • Where in life do you think your sibs and yourself will be in twelve years? 
  • Where around the world could you see yourself going to help people?

The first was pretty hysterical, peppered with some interjections about read more

Blessed are the “Middle Class in Spirit”? An Infographic on Coming to God as a Child

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The other night after small group, I experienced the cutest thing all week: The daughter of one of our members—who, when she wears pigtails, reminds me of a blonde, blue-eyed version of Boo from Monsters Inc. Our host home had The Most Patient Cat in the World, who allowed Boo to exclaim in her sweet little voice over all of his main body parts, touching as she went: “TAIL!” “EYES!” “FACE!” about 546 times. We watched said cat for an entire half hour.

She was disarming, delightful, and chock-full of sheer happiness. She was adorably undignified, openly affectionate.

I’ve been thinking about how God wants us to come to him like Boo—no. Actually, requires we come somehow like her. read more

A Good Day

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Today, I woke up in Thailand.

My sister and her husband start their day early on behalf of their community, feeding a bunch of kids breakfast so they can grow up strong. The food is cooked by an amazing local Burmese woman with a heart even bigger than her industrial-sized rice cooker.

31 More Things to Be Thankful for Today if You Live in the Developed World

Reading Time: 2 minutes

So many of us are experiencing new heights of irritation with and alienation from our own nations’ government. But consider this post an opportunity to shift our eyes in gratitude. When I’m struggling to feel content here, I think of my African friends’ perspectives on just what abundance we drink in every day.

Today’s and yesterday’s posts, rather than reinforcing the misguided, often arrogant notion that developing-world countries are horrible places to live, are simply invitations to be grateful with me about what we have…but generally did not create for ourselves. read more

31 Things to Be Thankful for Today If You Live in the Developed World

Reading Time: 2 minutes

So many of us are experiencing new heights of irritation with and alienation from our own nations’ government. But consider this post an opportunity to shift our eyes in gratitude. When I’m struggling to feel content here, I think of my African friends’ perspectives on just what abundance we drink in every day.

Today’s and tomorrow’s posts, rather than reinforcing the misguided, often arrogant notion that developing-world countries are horrible places to live, are simply invitations to be grateful with me about what we have…but generally did not create for ourselves.

Holiday Rerun: Spiritual Life Skills for Kids: 10 Practical Ways to Teach Simplicity

Reading Time: 6 minutes

One of my favorite aspects of my African lifestyle was a lean muscularity of simplicity. Forget keeping up with the Joneses. You are the Joneses, when your kids are going to play with kids whose families (who may or may not be literate or have lost a child) live in one room, which may or may not have electricity and running water.

So people expect my light fixtures to, say, look like I swiped them from my church in the eighties. They anticipate that when I serve lemonade, it will cascade from an ugly plastic pitcher.

Perspective is everything. read more

Ways to Keep Your Giving from Hurting, Part II

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Missed the first post? Grab it here.

4. We are not the heroes. Give to organizations that empower and employ local workers, and who utilize the local economy.

Sending shoes or clothes or food, for example, to impoverished countries—in my experience–can simply be sending in what could be purchased there, without the Western manpower and shipping expenses. (My family and I still load Samaritan’s Purse shoeboxes at Christmastime; those are different to me.) Supporting local farmers and businesses helps those working hard in their own nations. read more

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