If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion. -Dalai Lama*
What an afternoon of love – giving and receiving.
Last night, 5 of our treasured kids met in the basement of
a church in our Denver neighborhood, preparing a taco feast & beds for 25 homeless women
through the extraordinary Women’s Homeless Initiative program.
They learned to peel, pit, and cut avocados,
cut, arranged, and crafted beautiful flower centerpieces for each table.
The kids welcomed the women,
served coffee, tea, Arnold Palmers, dinner,
made banana splits,
cleared plates, &
talked about life with these dear women.
One of the women told the girls,
We love coming here – it looks just like a hotel…so beautiful!
Our dear sista, Beth, menu planned and grocery shopped for the night.
She’d sat with the women last week, and asked,
What would you like for dinner next week? [What a gift to be asked, right?]
No assumptions…gifting each other to dig deep and ask ourselves what we desire and then to voice it.
Something other than pasta & chicken.
We’d like to be able to make our own plates of food, too – to make it just as we’d like it.
She listened and responded with great attention and love.
Dinner was a feast for the senses,
with Sara [not me :}] playing the piano.
Some women would sing along,
others get up from the dinner table to dance,
while some ate a quick bite and then went to bed,
closing their eyes amidst the music, chattering, and sounds of our community supper.
Life – together.
Such a gift.
Thank you, Amy Wright | Whole Foods Market, for your generous food donation.
*The opening quote from Dalai Lama comes from Connected: 101 Ways To Be of Service and Create Community, a brilliant book by our dear friend & impassioned community-builder, Andrea Constantine. Check out last week’s post by Andrea.
