Baby, It's Cold Outside

Sunrise over Spokane. PC Marchauna Rodgers, all rights reserved. 

I love winter. Maybe being born in December means winter and snow have positive associations. Fresh white snow covering the limbs of leaveless branches and Elsa's "frozen frackles" covering cars or lacing inside poorly insulated windows all help create a winter wonderland. 

Fires are another favorite aspect of the cold months, especially in my part of the world. As a kid, I loved going with my dad to cut wood. August was filled with hard work in hot weather, but it was done in community and always ended with some sort of tasty treat. The best part, though, was on cold winter nights when my dad would build a fire in our basement then we'd enjoy time together watching TV or listening to my dad tell stories. 

My husband and I also heat with wood. High-efficiency fireplace inserts on both floors of our home keep the cold at bay and my babies safe from freezing. 

As a mom, keeping my babies safe from freezing is really important. In fact, I think its safe to say that any mama wants her babies safe from the cold. 

Over the last few years, I've been on a crazy journey of discovery. If you've read my blog, you know my story. If not, you can read more here, here, and here. As a result of that journey, my thoughts this year are drifting. Knowing my babies are safe and warm, on chilly mornings when frost covers windshields and ice lines windows, I can't help wondering about those who don't have a warm place to sleep at night. What would their mamas want for them? I'm confident it is not the reality of the men and women experiencing homelessness in Spokane this winter. 

It is difficult to imagine the haggard faces of Spokane's homeless as small children. It is easy to dismiss the echoes of giggles as you read cardboard signs held by dirty hands. The thing is, though, those signs are held by men and women who were children once, and young. They laughed as they chased after a ball, they dreamed of Santa making dreams come true, they smiled at fireworks and parades. They were, by our current standards, innocent. 

Dishelved, downcast faces may no longer seem innocent. Even so, they are still somebody's son or daughter. They are cold at night. And they are our neighbors. 

To help me think through how to be the neighbor God calls me to be, I have come up with a question - if my son or daughter was in a similar situation, what would I want someone to do? That question has literally changed my life. It has reordered my priorities and changed my direction. It is challenging, uncomfortable, inconvenient. It is also important. 

Screenshot from "A Snowy Silent Christmas" by Rising River Media. Used by permission. 

If your son or daughter was sleeping on the street, in the winter, as temperatures dropped below freezing and you weren't there to help them, what would you want someone to do? 

I don't know about you, but I would want someone to help my child. I would move heaven and earth to make sure my son or daughter had a warm place to sleep. Like the woman searching for the lost coin in the well-known parable, I would not rest until I knew my child was safe. Even if that child was an adult, living on the street, looking for home in all the wrong places. 

As I mentioned, I've been thinking about those looking for home in all the wrong places as the temperatures drop and winter sets in. More than once I've wondered if anyone died the night before. To be honest, I've been afraid to ask, unwilling to acknowledge the truth of what I knew in my heart. Today, my fears were confirmed. One man died last week, bringing the total of people who died on the streets of Spokane to 43. Not all of them died from exposure to the cold, but they died. That reality broke my heart. As tears coursed down my anguished face, the frustration of not knowing what to do was replaced with resolve. Will you help me? 

Maybe we can't solve every problem, or ensure every person experiencing homelessness finds (or will choose) a warm place to sleep. But we can do something. We can look beyond the convenience of knowing our children are warm this winter and choose to be the kind of neighbors Jesus described in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. 

Hopefully, if you've read to this point, you're looking for something tangible to do. Let me help you!! 

• First, if you're a person of faith, pray for those who are trying to survive outside tonight. That's the first place to start. 

• Next, buy some socks, gloves, and hand warmers. If it's close to Black Friday when you read this, all of those items should be available for a great price, so you can help without breaking the bank. 

• Finally, find a good place to donate those items. If you're in Spokane, you can drop off socks here, here, or here. If you're not in Spokane, find a faith-based low-barrier shelter working with those experiencing homelessness and deliver them there. 

Or, if you want to take your engagement to another level, put together a care kit that you can keep in your car. It's as simple as putting a pair of socks, a pair of gloves, a couple of handwarmers, a Snickers bar, and a bottle of water in a ziplock bag. With sales, you can put one together for less than $10, maybe even less than $5. The crazy part is, that minimal investment can literally save someone's life. 

If you want a next step after praying and buying socks, talk to people who are actively involved in addressing homelessness. Look for more information on the causes of homelessness.