... an economic recovery package that truly empowers families!
Here's an excerpt from the email I just got from MomsRising.org that made me pause in my holiday preparations to send a quick message to Congress:
Right now, yes today, Congress is putting together an economic recovery package and we need you to take a brief moment to tell them not to forget about the economic security needs of families (that's us!).
*Send a holiday letter with 1-click to your Congressional representatives telling them to include families in the Economic Recovery Package which they're drafting right now:
www.momsrisingaction.org
Your letter will alert Congress that they need to incorporate the MomsRising Top Priorities for Families in their Economic Recovery Package--ensuring healthcare coverage for all children and then quickly moving forward to full healthcare reform, expanding unemployment insurance to cover part-time workers, giving states funds for family and medical leave insurance, funding quality early learning programs, and creating jobs which help everyone get ahead.
Here's the link to a detailed description of the five priorities in the Family Economic Recovery Passage. It's an impressive Christmas wish list.
Well, back to wrapping presents and helping my kids make ornaments for their grandparents. Have a blessed celebration of Jesus' birthday!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
A Small Gain (As Small As a Mustard Seed, Perhaps)
Laura Ingalls, the heroine of the Little House on the Prairie series, quoted an adage of her parents in desperate times: "There's no great loss without some small gain."
The economic havoc wreaked by stunning job losses and market upheaval is a great loss indeed. We have only begun to glimpse the impact of this downturn on the lives of children, not only in the U.S. but also and especially around the globe. Demand for public and private services is spiraling up while resources evaporate. Yet there is also small gain.
As budgets contract and needs rise, there is a chance that churches will conclude they have nothing left over to offer their communities, and simply bar the doors to prevent looters. But maybe, just maybe, the truth will hit us upside the head that the most valuable gift we have to offer is not what's in our bank accounts.
"But Peter said, 'I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.'" (Acts 3:6)
The economic downturn presents an opportunity for churches to shift—-by necessity, if not by principle—-from commodity-based ministry to relational ministry, from giving things to giving ourselves, and sharing Christ who gave Himself to dwell within us.
The Search Institute identifies 40 key developmental assets for children at various stages – "common sense, positive experiences and qualities that help influence choices young people make and help them become caring, responsible adults." These assets help give children the resilience to survive poverty and to make choices that lead away from poverty. Parents, schools, churches and community partners can help build up these critical internal and external strengths in eight categories: support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, constructive use of time, commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, and positive identity.
Check out the interactive lists of developmental assets for children at various stages of development, and ask: How many of these assets are dependent on money? Some, in fact, are very costly, such as this dynamic of empowerment in early childhood: "The community demonstrates that children are valuable resources by investing in … high-quality activities and resources to meet children’s physical, social, and emotional needs." Thus we must continue to press for critical public services such as health coverage for all children.
But other assets have a different kind of price tag, such as these suggestions for adolescents: "Young person receives support from three or more nonparent adults." "Young people are given useful roles in the community." "Young person spends one or more hours per week in activities in a religious institution." The cost of developing healthy youth is time, energy, community, vision and faith. Many of us are not used to thinking of ourselves as rich in this currency.
Churches may have shrinking budgets yet be overflowing with assets, especially the kind that are best invested in children and youth. "What I have, I give you!" This is a secret that many of our brothers and sisters in poorer nations have mastered, and that we now have the opportunity to discover. Our season of struggle offers us a small gain that we can offer to God to multiply in the community.
The economic havoc wreaked by stunning job losses and market upheaval is a great loss indeed. We have only begun to glimpse the impact of this downturn on the lives of children, not only in the U.S. but also and especially around the globe. Demand for public and private services is spiraling up while resources evaporate. Yet there is also small gain.
As budgets contract and needs rise, there is a chance that churches will conclude they have nothing left over to offer their communities, and simply bar the doors to prevent looters. But maybe, just maybe, the truth will hit us upside the head that the most valuable gift we have to offer is not what's in our bank accounts.
"But Peter said, 'I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.'" (Acts 3:6)
The economic downturn presents an opportunity for churches to shift—-by necessity, if not by principle—-from commodity-based ministry to relational ministry, from giving things to giving ourselves, and sharing Christ who gave Himself to dwell within us.
The Search Institute identifies 40 key developmental assets for children at various stages – "common sense, positive experiences and qualities that help influence choices young people make and help them become caring, responsible adults." These assets help give children the resilience to survive poverty and to make choices that lead away from poverty. Parents, schools, churches and community partners can help build up these critical internal and external strengths in eight categories: support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, constructive use of time, commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, and positive identity.
Check out the interactive lists of developmental assets for children at various stages of development, and ask: How many of these assets are dependent on money? Some, in fact, are very costly, such as this dynamic of empowerment in early childhood: "The community demonstrates that children are valuable resources by investing in … high-quality activities and resources to meet children’s physical, social, and emotional needs." Thus we must continue to press for critical public services such as health coverage for all children.
But other assets have a different kind of price tag, such as these suggestions for adolescents: "Young person receives support from three or more nonparent adults." "Young people are given useful roles in the community." "Young person spends one or more hours per week in activities in a religious institution." The cost of developing healthy youth is time, energy, community, vision and faith. Many of us are not used to thinking of ourselves as rich in this currency.
Churches may have shrinking budgets yet be overflowing with assets, especially the kind that are best invested in children and youth. "What I have, I give you!" This is a secret that many of our brothers and sisters in poorer nations have mastered, and that we now have the opportunity to discover. Our season of struggle offers us a small gain that we can offer to God to multiply in the community.
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