Amy Julia Becker's Blog, page 120

How Love Brings Power in the Midst of Powerlessness {Ep 109}

I finished recording this week’s episode of the Love is Stronger than Fear podcast where I talked about how love brings power in the midst of powerlessness, and I realized I had failed to mention Ahmaud Arbery’s murder. 

Stories of Powerlessness

This week, I told three stories of powerlessness: One, my own encounters with the education system and feeling helpless to bridge the gap between what our kids are receiving and what kids in less wealthy zip codes receive from their schools. Two, my dad’s attempt to help an immigrant trying to return to the United States after her husband died here of Covid-19. And three, my friend Patricia’s concern for her mom, who has been living in total isolation in a nursing home for two months. 

I talked about the power of status and achievement—the power that has so often “worked” for people like me, the power that Paul himself had as a zealous Jewish man. And then I talked about how Paul teaches the early Christians in Philippi that their identity is not from status and achievement but from “being found” in Christ. Faith in the love of God as expressed in the death and resurrection of Jesus is their new identity. 

Love Brings Power

The power of this new identity is the power of love. Love brings power—the gentle, humble, patient, kind, enduring, suffering, resurrecting, power of love. It is the power to remain with the people who are in a hopeless and helpless and powerless situation. It is the power to hope against hope in the midst of isolation and injustice and despair. It is the power to continue to make the phone calls and send the emails and pray the prayers even when it seems like nothing will or could ever change. 

Hope Beyond Hope

Which brings me back to Ahmaud Arbery, the black man who was murdered two months ago while taking a jog. His death illuminates the sense of futility and powerlessness experienced regularly by African Americans and other people of color across this nation. The sense that they could do everything “right” and still get hunted down and shot in the middle of the day while taking a jog and then, that it could take two months for the men who shot him to be brought to trial. 

My African American Christian friends understand far better than I do what it means to have hope beyond hope, what it means to trust the power of love and not the power of achievement, status, and control, what it means to lament and endure and suffer with those who suffer while always clinging to the hope of the resurrection. 

Wheaton Professor Esau McCaulley, reflecting on Abery’s death for the New York Times, writes:

When kings and rulers would not bring about justice, the disinherited put their hope in God. This is the root of black faith in this country: when faced with the denial of justice we set our hopes on a higher court, a more definitive vindication.

The Great Reversal

For the Christian, this vindication came in the person of Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection is the great reversal, the emptying of the power of sin and death on the one hand and the overcoming of the oppressive tendencies of the state on the other. That is, for us, the immovable fact of history.

I do not pretend to understand the depth of despair and hopelessness that so many vulnerable and oppressed people have experienced for centuries. But I do want to acknowledge all these precious human beings who are suffering under the weight of despair and isolation and injustice. And I want to pray that the power of the love of God—expressed in and through people—will patiently and kindly endure through the suffering to resurrection life.

EPISODE 109 SHOW NOTES:

Philippians 3:1-11
A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations, and a Little Girl Named Penny

…….

Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

COVID-19, Holy Week, and Preparing for Suffering with Love {Ep 104}
COVID-19, Privilege, and What Keeps Us from Living in Love {Ep 105}
Harriet: Hope in the Face of Oppression

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast and my Reading Small Talk podcast on your favorite podcast platforms.

The post How Love Brings Power in the Midst of Powerlessness {Ep 109} appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

Happy Mother’s Day!

2013

So today, on Mother’s Day, can you imagine getting really mad, maybe not for a terrific reason, and yelling at your kids and slamming a door and stomping around the house? You know, just hypothetically?

I talked with John and Kathy (of the John and Kathy Show) on Friday afternoon about being a mother, and I got to tell the story of that moment of door slamming. It was prompted when Kathy said she thought the most important thing mothers can say to their children is “I’m sorry.” (In that story, I owed Penny a big “I’m sorry.”) 

When she asked me the same question, I said that I think the most important thing to say is “I love you,” but not in the trite way it can sound. What I think I really mean is that our kids need to know we believe in them. Not that we believe they will accomplish great things or we believe they can win awards. But that we believe they are created in the image of God, and that in the midst of all the mistakes and bad choices and gifts and joys of their lives, they are in the process of becoming someone beautiful. 

To listen to the full interview, click here. And I have a Mother’s Day gift for you!

Happy Mother’s Day!

………

Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

A Mother’s Day Gift: Reading Small Talk Podcast
How My Daughter Convinced Me We Can Help {Ep 107}
Less Distraction and Paying Attention

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast and my Reading Small Talk podcast on your favorite podcast platforms.

The post Happy Mother’s Day! appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

Reading Small Talk: Behind-the-Scenes

Want a glimpse of Small Talk behind-the-scenes? How do my kids REALLY feel about being stuck at home with our family?! What do they think I am having a hard time with?

What are some of their favorite stories from Small Talk?

What do they agree (yes, they agree!) is a gift from God to our family? What do we do every night during this time of coronavirus?

Find out all this—and more!—in this nine-minute video above (or online here)!

And then subscribe to my Reading Small Talk podcast wherever you get your podcasts! The first episode drops on Thursday (5/7)! I hope that these stories and thoughts will encourage those of you who are at home with little ones in this season of isolation and social distancing.

And you can download the abridged audiobook of Small Talk here on my website as my gift to you!

Please spread the word to any other moms and dads you know who’d like some short, thoughtful bursts of spiritual encouragement to let you know you aren’t alone. And I hope you’ve enjoyed this Small Talk behind-the-scenes!

…………

Want to read more? Here are some suggestions…

A Mother’s Day Gift: Reading Small Talk Podcast
Fear, Fearing the Lord, and Walking in Love
How My Daughter Convinced Me We Can Help {Ep 107}

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast and my Reading Small Talk podcast on your favorite podcast platforms.

The post Reading Small Talk: Behind-the-Scenes appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

Carrying Love Letters from God {Ep 108}

I sometimes expect God to communicate through the equivalent of Marvel comic book “Shazams!” and action movie explosions. I expect Him to grab my attention with an airplane toting a banner declaring love in the sky (though these days I’d probably be tempted to see that as a strange form of advertising) or an inexplicable extravagant care package showing up on my front stoop. I don’t always except love letters from God the way He sends them.

But what strikes me again and again is how humble, gentle, and quiet God is about demonstrating love. God rarely—maybe never?—shows off. Rather, God uses people, other human beings, to gently and quietly communicate love again and again and again.

In this week’s podcast, I tell the story of how God prompted our pastor to gather contributions to send to the Native American reservation where one of our church members grew up. This story sounds like an act of kindness on the part of our congregation towards people in need, and there is that. But something else happened too. 

First, our pastor learned about a Christian woman living on the reservation who has been feeling isolated and discouraged. She had moved back to the reservation after feeling God’s call to do so, but recent events left her wondering whether she had heard that call correctly, and whether other Christians cared at all about her work and their desperate situation. Then she got a call out of the blue from a pastor at a little country church in western Connecticut. Our pastor called her to say that we wanted to help. In fact, to say that the Holy Spirit had prompted her to reach out. 

Our pastor wasn’t just coordinating a relief effort. She was bearing a love letter from God to a woman 3,000 miles away. She was bearing the message that God loves her, that she is not alone.

And then, when our pastor learned what a gift of encouragement this was to the woman on the reservation, guess what? She felt humbled, encouraged, amazed that God would use her to bear this message. This wasn’t only a love letter sent to the reservation. It was also a love letter sent to our pastor. That’s how love works: humbly, gently, and reciprocally. 

We all are invited to be messengers like this. We all are invited to receive messages like this. God works in people and through people in order to love people. We are also invited in this time to listen to the gentle, quiet whisper of the Spirit of God. We are invited to be couriers—and recipients—of love letters from God. 

P.S. I also received this video of choirs and worship leaders in the United Kingdom singing a blessing over the weekend, and I received it too as a love letter from God. I hope you’ll get a chance to watch it and receive the blessing for yourself and those you love.

EPISODE 108 SHOW NOTES:

In this episode, Amy Julia speaks from Philippians 2 in order to talk about how God uses people to carry “love letters” from Him. She talks about the way God works through people, with reference to Mary and Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-45) and humble, with reference to 1 Corinthians 13. 

At the end of the episode, she mentions a recent conversation on “the And” between her friend Ginny and her 15-year old daughter Rachel, who has Down syndrome, as well as a video produced by choirs and worship leaders in the United Kingdom to sing a blessing of peace: 

Conversation on the “the And” between Ginny and Rachel
UK Choirs and Worship Leaders Perform The Blessing

Amy Julia also mentions her new podcast, Reading Small Talk, which will be available starting Thursday, May 7, in weekly installments, or is available as an audiobook here.

…….

Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

AJB Recommends: Talking with Doctors Who Are Christians About COVID-19
A Mother’s Day Gift: Reading Small Talk Podcast
How to Receive God’s Love

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast and my Reading Small Talk podcast on your favorite podcast platforms.

The post Carrying Love Letters from God {Ep 108} appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

AJB Recommends: Talking with Doctors Who Are Christians About COVID-19

I happened to listen to two doctors talking about COVID-19 from their vantage point as physicians and people of faith. In the first interview, Dr. Danny Avula, Director of Public Health for the City of Richmond, VA talks with Corey Widmer, pastor of Third Church in Richmond, about why he got into public health, the racial disparities evident in the way this disease has progressed, and the common grace he has seen in small acts of great love throughout the city of Richmond. (Danny and Corey were both housemates with my husband Peter in college, so they are also old friends of each other and of ours.)

Then I turned to the For the Life of the World podcast for a conversation with Dr. Lydia Dugdale, who has been serving ICU patients in New York City throughout this crisis. In addition to documenting the hard realities of life in the ICU right now, Dr. Dugdale talks about her upcoming book in which she examines the lost traditions—both secular and religious—of preparing well for death. She talks about why preparing for death helps us live a good life and about how to include children in preparing for death. 

Both of these conversations with these doctors talking about COVID-19 were sobering in their portrayal of our current moment, with so much unexpected sickness and death. And both were wonderfully hopeful in pointing to the ways human beings can love each other well here and now and prepare well for the love that is offered to us for all eternity.

…….

Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

AJB Recommends
How My Daughter Convinced Me We Can Help {Ep 107)
Where Is God When People Suffer {Ep 106}

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

The post AJB Recommends: Talking with Doctors Who Are Christians About COVID-19 appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

A Mother’s Day Gift: Reading Small Talk Podcast

Download Audiobook

To all the mothers and fathers of young children who are struggling right now, I have a small gift for you—the Reading Small Talk podcast—that I hope might make your days just one little bit easier. I remember what it was like to be home with our kids when they were younger. It was a really hard season for me, and that was when they were able to go to preschool and music class and my mom could come and help out. 

I wish I could do more to help the moms and dads in my life who are having a rough time at home with little ones right now. I can’t wash your dishes, but I can give you some words of gentle encouragement about what I learned back when our kids were little. 

SO, I have been recording chapters from my book Small Talk: Learning from My Children about What Matters Most, and I’m now offering those stories as both a podcast and an abridged audiobook. If you subscribe to the Small Talk podcast, for the next twelve weeks you’ll get one chapter each week that you can listen to in the midst of washing dishes and folding laundry, or in the few quiet moments you get to yourself in the morning or the evening. I’ve recorded chapters on Failure, Rest, Prayer, Love, and so much more. 

And if you want to receive all twelve chapters at once, they are available for download here on my website. Also on my website, I have a set of discussion questions and passages from the Bible that you can read alongside each chapter if you’re feeling ambitious, or if you want to have a way to discuss this with another mom or dad on a Zoom call or in another appropriately socially distanced way.

You can subscribe to receive one chapter a week of Small Talk on any platform where you typically get your podcasts. Please spread the word to any other moms and dads you know who’d like some short, thoughtful bursts of spiritual encouragement to let you know you aren’t alone.

At the end of the introduction to Small Talk, I write:

This book is a series of reflections from my past few years of parenting, beginning when I was pregnant with Marilee and moving in a rough chronological order through our children’s young lives. It is not a how-to guide. It is not filled with advice. It is, I hope, a word of encouragement that good things can emerge out of the hard but ordinary everyday moments. It is, I hope, a reminder that on those days when you wonder if there is any meaning in the dishes and disputes and diapers, you are not alone. It is also, I suppose, an exhortation to pay attention—to the words and thoughts and actions of these little ones we so easily overlook.

For a long time, I thought my children were a distraction from the work God was doing in my life and in the world around me. I am starting to realize they are the work God is doing in my life. They are the invitation to give, to receive, to be humbled, to grow. They are the vehicles of grace.”

For all of you who aren’t always seeing this time as one filled with grace and growth, this podcast, this audiobook, is for you.

…….

Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

Small Talk resourcesHow to Talk with Your Children (and Friends) about Faith Pt. 1How to Talk with Your Children (and Friends) about Faith Pt. 2

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

Small Talk Resources




























Small Talk Abridged Audiobook












Download




















Reading Small Talk Podcast Abridged












Listen




















Small Talk Discussion Guide












Download




















Learning to Love: 5 Essays
on Parenting












Download

The post A Mother’s Day Gift: Reading Small Talk Podcast appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

Head, Heart, Hands Audiobook

I have a gift for you—a free audiobook of Head, Heart, Hands! After I wrote White Picket Fences, I heard back from many readers that they wanted more. They wanted to acknowledge the harm of social divisions, and they wanted ways to respond to it. But they, like I, felt incompetent, ignorant, and overwhelmed.

I wrote Head, Heart, Hands, a free action guide to accompany White Picket Fences as a result of those readers’ questions. In recent weeks, as I’ve once again felt incompetent, ignorant, and overwhelmed by the massive disparities in access to education, health care, and job security, I’ve returned to the idea of head, heart, hands. This simple model of responding to social problems has guided my conversations with friends and within our family as we consider our role in both giving and receiving care.  

I just released a free audiobook version of Head, Heart, Hands that you can access here on my website, along with the free PDF version, or by subscribing to my podcast—Love is Stronger Than Fear.

And I’m looking forward to a few upcoming Zoom meetings with book clubs who have asked me to join them to discuss White Picket Fences. I won’t be speaking with groups in person any time soon (other than one hopeful and tentative local talk scheduled for mid-summer). But I’d love to schedule a virtual meeting with your book club to talk about how to acknowledge the harm of social divisions in order to move towards participating in healing. You can view my speaking policy here. 

There’s a tremendous amount of loss in our society right now on every level. I believe we are invited to grieve those losses. And we are also invited to look for ways to bring hope.

………

Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

How My Daughter Convinced Me We Can Help {Ep 107)
Announcing Head Heart Hands
Q Ideas 2019: The Harm of Privilege

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

The post Head, Heart, Hands Audiobook appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

How My Daughter Convinced Me We Can Help {Ep 107}

My Aunt Jane sent us five masks a few weeks ago (see photo). When the masks came, after we decided who gets which one and did a little modeling, I told the kids that Aunt Jane has also sent masks to people living on a Native American reservation who were in need, and to a facility where workers make ventilators and didn’t have proper protective gear. She has sewn hundreds of masks, and thus helped hundreds of people. We talked about how she’s helping during this COVID-19 crisis.

Marilee had a visceral reaction: “I want to help people like that!”

Helping During COVID-19 Crisis

The problem is, I don’t sew. And even if I were inspired to learn how, we wouldn’t be able to help any time soon. We don’t have a lot of time. I don’t feel like I have many practical abilities we can use to help others. 

But Marilee was insistent. So we started talking about helping during the COVID-19 crisis. We started talking about all the kids who aren’t able to learn very much right now. Here in our house, we have a fairly stable internet connection, laptop devices for each child, and schools that have a plan for internet-based distance learning. It’s not the same as going to school in person, but they are all still learning and growing and connecting with teachers and peers. 

On the same day that the masks arrived, I heard from multiple friends whose states had just announced kids wouldn’t go back to school this year. My friends were incensed that so many children would not have access to teachers because they didn’t have access to the internet or devices for learning. I also read reports about how we may be in and out of school for the entirety of the 2020-2021 school year. I was struck anew by the injustice inherent in knowing that our kids could be in and out of school for the next 15 months and continue to learn (including our daughter Penny, who has Down syndrome), when other kids in towns nearby would have far less instruction, access to teachers, and opportunities to learn and grow.

Brainstorming How to Help

Marilee, William, and I talked about it, and I wondered out loud whether we might be able to do something about that digital divide. Maybe we could use the resources we have at our disposal to help provide funding, or to help purchase Chromebooks, or to help set up tutoring systems. Maybe we could use our background in education and connection to people who could give money to help. 

So for the past week, the three of us have met for half an hour each day to try to understand what education looks like right now in our little corner of Connecticut. We’ve mapped out the different school systems by number of kids and funds spent per student. We’ve contacted our state and local representatives. We’ve read the CT Digital Equity Toolkit and set up a meeting to talk with the Executive Director of Educational Technology for our state. We’ve mentioned our efforts to a few friends, and every one of them has asked to be a part of helping out. 

Using Our Heads, Our Hearts, and Our Hands

I mentioned to our kids that we are trying to use our heads, our hearts, and our hands to help people. We’re learning about a problem (heads), connecting to people and making sure we understand the need and how to humbly offer whatever we can to help serve that need (hearts), and then we will take action (hands). I don’t know what will happen, but I believe we have been given this little piece of work to do to help share the great gifts of stability and education that we have been given in our household. 

I am never going to be someone who sews like my Aunt Jane. I often feel helpless and hopeless in light of the great needs of the world out there. But I am grateful to Marilee for pushing me to wonder whether we could use our heads, hearts, and hands to share some of our gifts with other kids. 

On today’s episode of the Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast, I talk about this story in the context of Philippians 2:12-18 and I talk more about how to respond to social problems using our heads, our hearts, and our hands. 

Also, as a bonus companion to this episode, I recorded an audio version of my ebook, Head, Heart, Hands . You can listen below:

……..

Show Notes:

PDF version of Head, Hearts, Hands
A Good and Perfect Gift
Small Talk

………..

Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

COVID-19, Privilege, and What Keeps Us from Living in Love {Ep 105}
Creating a More Equitable World
Backstage Thoughts on Privilege: Q Ideas

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

The post How My Daughter Convinced Me We Can Help {Ep 107} appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

How My Daughter Convinced Me We Can Help {Ep 107)

My Aunt Jane sent us five masks a few weeks ago (see photo). When the masks came, after we decided who gets which one and did a little modeling, I told the kids that Aunt Jane has also sent masks to people living on a Native American reservation who were in need, and to a facility where workers make ventilators and didn’t have proper protective gear. She has sewn hundreds of masks, and thus helped hundreds of people. We talked about how she’s helping during this COVID-19 crisis.

Marilee had a visceral reaction: “I want to help people like that!”

Helping During COVID-19 Crisis

The problem is, I don’t sew. And even if I were inspired to learn how, we wouldn’t be able to help any time soon. We don’t have a lot of time. I don’t feel like I have many practical abilities we can use to help others. 

But Marilee was insistent. So we started talking about helping during the COVID-19 crisis. We started talking about all the kids who aren’t able to learn very much right now. Here in our house, we have a fairly stable internet connection, laptop devices for each child, and schools that have a plan for internet-based distance learning. It’s not the same as going to school in person, but they are all still learning and growing and connecting with teachers and peers. 

On the same day that the masks arrived, I heard from multiple friends whose states had just announced kids wouldn’t go back to school this year. My friends were incensed that so many children would not have access to teachers because they didn’t have access to the internet or devices for learning. I also read reports about how we may be in and out of school for the entirety of the 2020-2021 school year. I was struck anew by the injustice inherent in knowing that our kids could be in and out of school for the next 15 months and continue to learn (including our daughter Penny, who has Down syndrome), when other kids in towns nearby would have far less instruction, access to teachers, and opportunities to learn and grow.

Brainstorming How to Help

Marilee, William, and I talked about it, and I wondered out loud whether we might be able to do something about that digital divide. Maybe we could use the resources we have at our disposal to help provide funding, or to help purchase Chromebooks, or to help set up tutoring systems. Maybe we could use our background in education and connection to people who could give money to help. 

So for the past week, the three of us have met for half an hour each day to try to understand what education looks like right now in our little corner of Connecticut. We’ve mapped out the different school systems by number of kids and funds spent per student. We’ve contacted our state and local representatives. We’ve read the CT Digital Equity Toolkit and set up a meeting to talk with the Executive Director of Educational Technology for our state. We’ve mentioned our efforts to a few friends, and every one of them has asked to be a part of helping out. 

Using Our Heads, Our Hearts, and Our Hands

I mentioned to our kids that we are trying to use our heads, our hearts, and our hands to help people. We’re learning about a problem (heads), connecting to people and making sure we understand the need and how to humbly offer whatever we can to help serve that need (hearts), and then we will take action (hands). I don’t know what will happen, but I believe we have been given this little piece of work to do to help share the great gifts of stability and education that we have been given in our household. 

I am never going to be someone who sews like my Aunt Jane. I often feel helpless and hopeless in light of the great needs of the world out there. But I am grateful to Marilee for pushing me to wonder whether we could use our heads, hearts, and hands to share some of our gifts with other kids. 

On today’s episode of the Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast, I talk about this story in the context of Philippians 2:12-18 and I talk more about how to respond to social problems using our heads, our hearts, and our hands. 

Also, as a bonus companion to this episode, I recorded an audio version of my ebook, Head, Heart, Hands . You can listen below:

……..

Show Notes:

PDF version of Head, Hearts, Hands
A Good and Perfect Gift
Small Talk

………..

Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

COVID-19, Privilege, and What Keeps Us from Living in Love {Ep 105}
Creating a More Equitable World
Backstage Thoughts on Privilege: Q Ideas

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

The post How My Daughter Convinced Me We Can Help {Ep 107) appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.

Toilet Paper, Hoarding, and Sharing

I bought a 9-pack of toilet paper in the grocery store last week. Yes. It was a brand I didn’t recognize, but it was soft toilet paper nonetheless. (Note: I was NOT ahead of the curve on the toilet paper hoarding situation.) 

Nine thick soft rolls of toilet paper.

For the first time in two months. 

There was another 9-pack sitting on the shelf, and the store had posted rules saying each customer could purchase two packages of any given item. For the past few weeks, every time I’m in the store, I have just routinely taken my two individual rolls of industrial-grade toilet paper. But in this case, I had the chance to bring home 18 rolls of fantastically nice toilet paper. 

What’s funny is that it wasn’t hard to leave the second package on the shelf. I was so thankful for the toilet paper, I actually had a desire to be generous towards others rather than hoarding it for myself.

Hoarding is different than saving. It’s different than stewarding resources. It is holding on to finances or possessions out of fear. This week on the podcast, I’m going to be talking about how we can take practical steps to respond to the current medical and economic crisis with love, and sharing money and resources is part of that response. 

Tim Keller writes:

Money that is hoarded for oneself rots the soul.

-Generous Justice

Whenever we hoard resources—money, time, toilet paper!!!—it rots our souls. (As a bit of an aside, when we give away without any regard for our own needs, that can also rot our souls.) It’s that middle place of sharing out of our abundance that grows us up into the people we are all created to be. And that ability to share often emerges, like my experience of the toilet paper at our local market, out of gratitude.

(And check out this link for the best use of hoarded toilet paper I can imagine, a Rube Goldberg toilet paper machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-kffqzfJx8)

………..

Want to read more? Here are some suggestions:

The Importance of Gifts
Fear, Fearing the Lord, and Walking in Love
How Can We Love Our Neighbors in a Time of Coronavirus?

If you haven’t already, please  subscribe  to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Twitter,  and you can  subscribe to my Love is Stronger Than Fear podcast on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts , and  Spotify , as well as other platforms.

The post Toilet Paper, Hoarding, and Sharing appeared first on Amy Julia Becker.