Merriam-Webster’s simple definition of generosity:
The quality of being kind, understanding, and not selfish: the quality of being generous; especially: willingness to give money and other valuable things to others.
One of the most wonderful things to me about Maggie’s Place is the generosity of our donors and volunteers. I continue to be blown away by the love and kindness shown to our moms, their babies and even the Corps by the people in our community.
The Bible says in Acts 20:35, “In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
I’d like to give a shout out to a local business that really is very generous to Maggie’s Place…
Local business owners, John, Mike and Claudia, and all the staff of M&J Trophies in Glendale, make celebrating new life at our home a truly special event that will be remembered throughout the years. The Michael house opened in 2007 and we have over 60 leaves on our Tree of Life. The leaves are all made with love and donated to our house by M&J Trophies. Each leaf commemorates the birth of a new child born to one of the moms at The Michael House and contains the name and date of birth of the baby as well as the first name of the mom.
One time when I went to pick up a leaf, I realized I had given them the wrong spelling for the mom’s name (how embarrassing!), but they didn’t even bat an eye. They made a new leaf while I waited and even sent me home with a box full of extra baby wraps they had. That’s generosity! That’s being kind, understanding and willing to give! All generosity reminds me of our Heavenly Father…
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (John 3: 16-17)
I came to Maggie’s Place because I believed the Lord was calling me to be generous too. I believe He continues calling me to share my story. I give all the glory to my Savior, Jesus Christ, who has been so generous to forgive my sins and call me out of darkness and into the light of His amazing grace and love.
I want to unite with other women and help them to experience the extraordinary generosity of our Heavenly Father and His unfailing love for each one of them.
I dedicate this blog post to Jonathan Michael (Jonathan Mark). On September 28, 1984, when I was 18 years old, I gave birth to my first born son, who I gave for adoption.
Happy Birthday Jonathan, I’ve always loved you, Mom.
By Jackie Jennings, a MissionCorps member
