Count your blessings for lent
This morning's church service was the last church service before lent (which starts on Wednesday and ends at Easter), and Christian Aid leaflets were handed out. Naturally I accepted the flyer as I was leaving, but it wasn't until I got home and actually read it that I appreciated what a WONDERFUL fundraising concept it is! I've been tweeting my #grateful365 tweets for a while now (a feed of which you can see live on the right hand side of this page... more on that in another post) so the "Count your blessings" idea really resonated with me. Whoever came up with the idea of donating a small amount for each every-day thing you are grateful for is a genius.
I can pretty much guarantee anyone reading this post is already better off than a lot of people in the world. For a start, you have access to electricity, a computer or mobile phone, and the internet. At the risk of sounding a bit preachy, we should all genuinely make an effort to count our blessings. How many of us have complained because a shop was out of our favourite type of ice cream, or moaned we're a bit chilly because the heating wasn't turned up high enough? Really we should be counting our blessings that we have access to an abundance of food and somewhere safe and warm to live. There are so many things we should be grateful for, each and every single day, but which we take for granted, so the Christian Aid leaflet is a wonderful way of counting these blessings and also doing some good for others between now and Easter.
So what is in the leaflet? Well, there's a daily blessing for you to consider and for each blessing you count, you donate between 5p and £1. Here's how the Christian Aid website explains the idea:
In Burundi there is less than 1 doctor for every 20,000 people. In Britain there are 42 doctors for every 20,000 people.
Give 10p for every doctor at your local surgery.
£1.45 will pay for one person to benefit from a community health outreach session in Jamaica, run by Christian Aid partner S-corner, which also provides vital health services to local communities.
Give 20p for every time you have accessed free healthcare this year.
Guatemala has the highest levels of maternal mortality in Latin America, with just 41% of births attended by a professional.
Give 50p if your local hospital has a maternity ward.
About 1.5 million children die each year as a result of diarrhoea – that’s 4,100 every day or three children every minute.
Give £1 if you have not been ill in the past month.
Children around the world miss a total of 443 million days of school every year due to water- related illnesses.
Give 5p for every clean glass of water you have drunk today.
You can download a copy of the leaflet to fill in and count your blessings and donate to Christian Aid here... which I will be doing! In the meantime, here's my #grateful365 feed where I count my own blessings.
I can pretty much guarantee anyone reading this post is already better off than a lot of people in the world. For a start, you have access to electricity, a computer or mobile phone, and the internet. At the risk of sounding a bit preachy, we should all genuinely make an effort to count our blessings. How many of us have complained because a shop was out of our favourite type of ice cream, or moaned we're a bit chilly because the heating wasn't turned up high enough? Really we should be counting our blessings that we have access to an abundance of food and somewhere safe and warm to live. There are so many things we should be grateful for, each and every single day, but which we take for granted, so the Christian Aid leaflet is a wonderful way of counting these blessings and also doing some good for others between now and Easter.
So what is in the leaflet? Well, there's a daily blessing for you to consider and for each blessing you count, you donate between 5p and £1. Here's how the Christian Aid website explains the idea:
Make lent countExamples of the daily blessings in the leaflet are things like:
Lent is a time to take each day to reflect, pray and be thankful for the goodness of God and the blessings that we have received. Make Lent count this year in a fresh way by joining us on the Count Your Blessings journey and supporting some of the poorest communities in the world. From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, record your responses to each daily action in the boxes provided and see how, this Lent, you can go on a journey that will transform the way you see the world.
In Burundi there is less than 1 doctor for every 20,000 people. In Britain there are 42 doctors for every 20,000 people.
Give 10p for every doctor at your local surgery.
£1.45 will pay for one person to benefit from a community health outreach session in Jamaica, run by Christian Aid partner S-corner, which also provides vital health services to local communities.
Give 20p for every time you have accessed free healthcare this year.
Guatemala has the highest levels of maternal mortality in Latin America, with just 41% of births attended by a professional.
Give 50p if your local hospital has a maternity ward.
About 1.5 million children die each year as a result of diarrhoea – that’s 4,100 every day or three children every minute.
Give £1 if you have not been ill in the past month.
Children around the world miss a total of 443 million days of school every year due to water- related illnesses.
Give 5p for every clean glass of water you have drunk today.
You can download a copy of the leaflet to fill in and count your blessings and donate to Christian Aid here... which I will be doing! In the meantime, here's my #grateful365 feed where I count my own blessings.
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