The joy of having enough

I am reminded for the eight hours per week that I volunteer with the State how blessed I am. Being so regularly reminded of my blessings is blessing in itself—it keeps me from getting complacent, from staying in my head too much, from assuming that everything is alright. Everything is SO not alright.

What I do at my volunteer job is to answer the main phone line for people who need help with food, medical insurance, housing, bills, etc. I do this job for 8 hours per week (two four-hour days). My coworker, Kathy, does it for the other 32 hours of the week when I'm not there. When I leave after 4 hours on the phones, my heart is heavy from hearing such sad stories and I feel drained. I don't know how Kathy does it for 8 hours a day. I could not.

Women call me crying because they have nothing to feed their children, and no money to buy food. People call me, freezing, because they cannot pay their heating or electric bills. Some are limited in job hunting or keeping a job because they cannot afford a vehicle…or they have a vehicle and can’t afford to put gas in it or to pay to get it out of the repair shop when something goes wrong with it. Some have been put out of their home due to foreclosure or eviction and call me, terrified, after spending their first night in a homeless shelter. Parents feel sad and helpless because they cannot afford to buy their children Christmas gifts.

Many people will judge those in such circumstances. They'll say these people are lazy, that they don’t want to work, that they won’t do what it takes to help themselves. Is this true of some of these people? Yes, I'm afraid it is. Is this true of all of them? Absolutely not!

There are people asking for help now who have never even thought of needing to do so before. The company they worked for went under and they lost their job (along with any benefits, such as health insurance, that may have come with it). They got sick, had no health insurance, and were driven into debt by the staggering hospital and doctor bills (and instead of being able to rest and take care of themselves once they’re out of the hospital, they have to scrabble to figure out how to stay afloat—how to keep from losing their house, etc.).

Before Missy came into my life two months ago, I was visiting the local SPCA weekly to see if I could help a dog escape euthanization (our SPCA is a kill shelter). In the weeks just before I got Missy, a third to a half of all the dogs in my local SPCA were surrenders--dogs that had been voluntarily turned over to the SPCA by their owners either because they could no longer afford to feed them or because the owners had lost their home.

Even some of my closest friends and family members are being hit hard by this economic downturn. My older brother just closed his home building business after 20+ years in operation. Several of my closest friends are struggling financially.

Things are bad. Really, really bad. Appreciate the joy of having enough. Recognize your blessings. And, if you're able, reach out to those who are struggling--either by giving of your time or your money. 'Tis the reason for the season, baby.