Let Love Bloom

Last week, we shared a bit about why we do what what we do, and we promised to keep sharing about the details about what it will look like to walk alongside our neighbors in High Ridge. Here is our first step: 

We are planning a Spring Event, "Let Love Bloom."

We have given away oranges two years in a row, and this Spring we think we need to get a little dirt under our fingernails.

We're enlisting a little help from our friends.

This is Seeds of Grace's fourth year of ministry. Just as a four year old child starts preparing for school, we are preparing our organization for a new phase. We want to grow and become even more involved in the High Ridge community, so Seeds of Grace has been planning some new events, in addition to our regular Book Bus schedule, for this coming year.

On March 28, 2015, we want to "Let Love Bloom" in High Ridge with a flower giveaway. This Spring event was inspired by our winter citrus giveaway. During the past two winters, we have been honored to have someone contact us saying they had oranges they wanted to get rid of and asking us to give them away. Teri and I loaded up in one of our trucks and drove around some of our favorite streets around town (many of them happen to be in High Ridge), asking people if they would like some oranges. In some ways it seems like a silly thing, but the smiles on people's faces and the little conversations we had with people let us know that this was helping us build some relationships in the neighborhood. "Let Love Bloom" is just another way for us to say, "You are loved, and you matter." 

If you'd like to make a donation to our fabulous flower give away, please mail your donation to 6148 County Road 352, Keystone Heights, FL, 32656. Seeds of Grace is a 501c3 organization. 

And, if your a local reader, we'd love for you to join us for the day. Contact us on facebook. 

Poverty...It's complicated, y'all!

Poverty is defined as "the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support."

I'm not really a fan of money. It stresses me out. I stress about saving, spending, handling it, counting it, and generally being responsible for it. If I could figure out how to live in this world without dealing with it, I would. I have seriously considered trying to implement some sort of barter system.

Even when I think of poverty, I'm of the opinion that it isn't really about money. Maybe that's because I've been to Haiti and other places where some people might say "they don't have anything." They surely don't have much- not a roof or running water or much more than a little oil and rice for their one meal of the day. But, I've sat next these people "without" anything and I've seen that they really have so much more than meets the eye. So much more than my big house and nice clothes and full fridge is worth. These "poor" people that I've had the privilege of sitting next to know real joy and gratitude and hope and ingenuity.

However, there is another kind of poverty- the kind that has "no means of support." Truth be told, Seeds of Grace isn't very interested in helping with the money side of poverty. There are so many organizations and programs that exist to help with those obstacles. We know, though, that there are many people- some with large bank accounts and some with empty ones- that feel stuck or alone or lost. There are people who just need a good friend or a good teacher to walk alongside them for a little while, and at Seeds of Grace we want be doing that kind of "work." 

Teri and I started this whole Book Bus thing because we were working with students who needed more than what school could offer them. We had students who were coming to school dirty, who had many behavior problems, who were low-achievers, and who told stories of chaotic homes. Most of these students had one thing in common. They were from low-income homes. Many of them living in a single neighborhood. And our heart began to break. For these children. For their families. For their neighborhood. 

It wasn't that we thought we were better than anyone in that neighborhood. It was that we believed we could be in that neighborhood. We could be stuck or alone or empty. If we were, we would want someone to come along side us for a little while. 

For those of you who have been following us for sometime, you know that when we talk about a neighborhood, we are mostly talking about High Ridge. That's true. However, we want to be very clear- we love the people who live there. We love the children and adults who live in that neighborhood. We love the people who live in that neighborhood who have beautiful homes and yards, and we love the people who live in that neighborhood and have trash thrown all over their yard. We love the people whose children are bathed and nicely behaved and strong readers, and we love the people whose children have a weeks worth of dirt on their neck or never follow directions or are reading way below grade level. We love the retired folks and the working-hard-every-day-to-make-it-folks and the folks on food stamps.We love the church goers and the bar goers. We love the volunteers and the drug dealers. Really. We do. And really. There are all those kinds of people and everything in between in that neighborhood just like any other neighborhood. The thing is, if you drive through High Ridge; you can't deny that there is something different. That it at least appears that more people are struggling in that neighborhood than in the country club or on Lakeview Drive or Grove Street. 

Johnny, one of our board members, told me a story about privilege the other day. He said he had read about a teacher who was trying to explain privilege to her students who claimed that everyone in the United States has the same opportunities. The teacher put  a trashcan in the front of the classroom, and she had the students sit in rows as their desks. Some students were in the front, some in the middle, and some towards the back of the classroom. The teacher handed all of the students a crumpled piece of paper, and told them that they would all have the same opportunity to throw their crumpled piece of paper in the trash. They couldn't move from their seats, even if they were in the very back; but they all had the same opportunity to throw their piece of paper in the trash. 

As a teacher, I see privilege play out in a million different ways every day in the classroom. Students who have computers at home know what to do the first time they are asked to maneuver a mouse. Students who have been to a public library know how to treat a book. Students who have conversations with their parents at the dinner table have a better vocabulary. Students who are fed nutritiously and sleep through the night are more able to focus and concentrate. 

I started writing this blog post because I heard that someone else had heard that someone was offended because we were saying that all people who lived in High Ridge were poor and then I inferred the next thought- that we arrogantly thought we could "fix those people." I can't nor do I want to fix "those people." I want to  love. I want to be friends. I want to walk alongside my neighbors, whether rich or poor.

We want to tell you more about the details of what walking alongside our neighbors in High Ridge is going to look like, and so we hope you'll stay tuned and joined us as we keep growing and sharing.