Train Up a Child

December 2017

Proverbs 22:6 says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

When Chris and I were first married, we made ringing the bell for the Salvation Army a yearly tradition.  Since then (14 years ago), there have been maybe 3 years (the boys were born in October and November...so we took both of those years off) we did not ring the bell.  It's a tradition we look forward to every year...kind of. We quickly found that our version of volunteering to ring the bell with two little boys didn't quite look like it did in the Hallmark movies.  But, nevertheless, we continue to make it a yearly tradition.  "Train up a child...."  


You see, at first glance, this picture probably looks picture perfect.  But, trust me, it is far from it......in fact, throughout the years of ringing the bell, I've learned that things are not always what they seem.

December 2015

You see, what you don't see is that prior to this picture, before we even started ringing the bell, Harper spilled a cup of hot coffee on my arm, so my sleeve was soaking wet and sticky with hot coffee and lots of creamer.  Then, just as we got out of the car, Chris spilled my same cup of coffee on his shirt and shorts.  So, he too had hot coffee and sticky cream on him...and I had barely any coffee left.

Once we arrived and set up (complete with music and everything...our ringing station has become quite sophisticated over the years), Harper realized it was a bit chillier than we anticipated.  He was freezing.  So he sat in one of our chairs and folded his arms to try and keep warm.  So much so that a lady walked over and said to him "Well, you look like the Christmas grouch."  Lovely!  That's exactly the spirit we were hoping to portray!

Fast forward a few minutes.....when Warren ended up in tears because Lord only knows why.  Chris took him for a walk to try and get him to calm down.  When that didn't work, we just had him sit with the Santa hat pulled down over his face.

Let me pause for just a minute while you get this mental picture in your mind, because remember, it is as far from the perfect one above.  Ok, so Warren is sitting in a camping chair with a Santa hat over his head, Chris is ringing the bell to our Christmas music, and Harper is freezing.

December 2014

To warm up, he and I decide to walk across the parking lot into the sunshine.  We get over to a nice warm, big rock...perfect to sit on.  That is, until Harper steps in a huge pile of fire ants.  Well, why not??  After brushing them off and slapping his shoes on the concrete.....with Harper in tears, Chris runs into Publix to grab some Benadryl, as Harper's poor foot is swelling and itching terribly.  Once we get him settled down, we finished our time ringing the bell...smiles on our faces.  Until the bell accidentally slipped from Warren's hands and landed on Harper's other foot.....leaving him in tears once again.  But, by golly, we bucked up enough to take the perfect picture!

As I looked at the picture that our shift replacement volunteers took, it reminded me of what we experience every yea
r as we volunteer.  Things are never as they seem.  By now, we have a system.  As people walk in to Publix, we say "Good Morning".  As they leave, we say "Merry Christmas."  And, inevitably, we have people come to us with a myriad of reasons as to why they can't or don't donate....as if it's our job to judge them.  Why just today, a man walked up to Warren and told him "Just because I'm not putting anything in this bucket, doesn't mean I didn't put something in another bucket somewhere else."  We had customers who looked very "well off" walk right past us.  And not that they didn't donate, but they didn't even acknowledge us.  But then, we had those who looked to be the poorest of poor, walk past, smile back to us and deposit all the change they had....sometimes even their pocket lint.  Things aren't always what they seem.

December 2012

December 2013

So, while our experiences ringing the bell for Salvation Army may not be as perfect as they appear in our pictures, rest assured we walk away having learned so much.  We've learned that a simple smile and a "Merry Christmas" can go a long way.  And it's because of those blessings that we continue to "train up our children in the way they should go."  Merry Christmas!