Last week, two articulate and motivated ten year-olds ran a pasta dinner fundraiser in Ontario to help raise funds for other kids their age in Malawi.
Kids Helping Kids - it was the theme that kept coming up.
Because that's what it was. It was two ten year olds doing something powerful to help other ten year olds born into different circumstances. It was two kids in the western world of plenty coming to an dawning understanding that "there but for the grace of God go I."
We are never born with such understanding and compassion. Our kids will never just randomly turn into compassionate adults. Like us, they must learn it.
In all sports, practice builds muscle and effectiveness. So it is with the hearts of children. They can be given opportunities to work hard and help others, flexing their compassion muscle, making it potent.
This is what I witnessed last week: egged on by their parents, I watched two young kids take decided steps towards embracing a life of compassion for the vulnerable. In pursuing such a life, I believe it won't just be the kids in Malawi whose lives are changed.
Helped by their parents, India and Clark rented a hall, called all their friends, family, and basketball teams and invited them to their dinner. They held meetings deciding menus, enlisted the support of Google to decide on quantities, and asked friends and family to help by bringing a dessert to share.
By 5.30pm on Saturday night, the little hall was full with over 100 people.
As kids arrived with their parents, India and Clark asked them to help. Kids served the pasta and sauce. They filled pots and stirred salads. Kids cleared the tables, filled glasses and helped clean everything up afterwards. It was beautiful to see how completely enthusiastic all the kids were to participate. They were begging to help, asking for jobs, sticking around at the end to sweep the floor.
They each wanted to be noble and giving - perhaps they just didn't really know how a kid can do that.
Oh how I pray they caught the bug for how absolutely thrilling giving to others can be.
In the Bible, God tells us to give. That you are blessed if you do.
But what if the "blessing" God promises is not the sense of "being a good person and doing the right thing", but rather, a particular touch of God's favour?
What if we are commanded to give not because it's the right thing to do, but because there's something unfathomably wonderful in it for us, from God, that cannot be received any other way?
I saw some kids physically receive a blessing from God last weekend.
The smallest part of it was knowing their efforts raised $2,005 for Turn The Tide kids in Malawi.
The larger portion? We may have to wait until they can articulate it, but I have a suspicion the biggest blessing may only be seen in the type of adults they become.
Kids Helping Kids. The tide being turned in both directions, meeting in the middle, through love.
P.S. If you have any fundraising ideas on how kids can help kids, I would love to hear from you!