Sending Love in the Mail Children of all ages can create greeting cards and write letters to individuals in need. You can send cards to children suffering from life-threatening illnesses through Send Kids the World. The program asks writers to send postcards to any child listed on the website to brighten the child’s day or to encourage him or her in difficult times. Soldiers serving far from home also appreciate cards and letters. There are several reputable websites where you can find the names and addresses of these men and women wanting a little news and encouragement from home. Shut-ins you may know from church, as well as friends and relatives confined to nursing homes, are also excellent candidates for a little love in the mail. With a little coaching and assistance from you, your child can put together a letter that is sure to put a smile on someone’s face. To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own. —Abraham Lincoln These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg. Help your kids to see the many opportunities to be an encourager that they encounter each day. When you get them involved early, they will learn well the lesson that it is better to give than to receive. Marilyn Jones has been a journalist and photographer for more than 30 years. Specializing in travel and features, her articles and photographs have appeared in major newspapers, magazines, and online. She is the mother of three grown children; lives in East Texas; and, in addition to traveling and writing, enjoys gardening and scrapbooking. www.travelwithmarilyn.com www.facebook.com/travelwithmarilyn Depositphoto/Monkeybusiness raking leaves from a yard . . . the ideas are endless,” he said. “These events are great for all ages and are fun to do. The focus is on God and the people being served, not about the doer. Sometimes the events are fast paced, like handing someone a rose as they come out of a store and wishing them a blessed Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day.” Larsen recalls a woman telling him that she was standing at her kitchen window watching the leaves blowing around her yard. They were piling up everywhere. Her arm was in a sling from having fallen on the ice, her two sons were serving in the armed forces in Iraq, and her husband wasn’t a part of the scene for whatever reason. She said a quick prayer to God for the safety of her sons and also asked what she was going to do this year about the leaves. There was just no way she could take care of them. A couple of hours later she was walking by that same kitchen window when something caught her eye. She did a double take and couldn’t believe what she was seeing. A group of teenagers was out back raking her leaves. She had never told anyone except God about her circumstances. After they had raked all her leaves to the front curb, one of them came to her door, handed her a card, and proceeded to tell her that they wanted no money. They were engaged in a planned act of Christian kindness and wished her a blessed day. “There was no way this was anything but God at work in her life,” Larsen asserts. You and your family can do the work of God for someone you know, or perhaps for a complete stranger. Help your children to discover the many ways in which they can give back. Their lives will be richer for it. What this world needs is a new kind of army—the army of the kind. —Cleveland Amory 18 Christian Home & School | www.csionline.org