Thursday, May 17, 2012

The Heart Tree

Barbara: I was incredibly moved this week by a community gesture and had to share it with you in case you might also be inspired and moved by it. One of our neighbours suffered a terrible loss recently and a young family was left reeling. Their community reached out to them in many of the traditional ways: by making sure there was plenty of food in the freezer and helping hands as needed.

But this week, they went one step further. Inspired by a story they read on a blog about a group of women in Massachusetts, several of them got together and crafted many dozen fabric hearts and then, in the middle of the night, strung them up on the trees in this family's front and back yards. (…Just writing this makes me well up...) In the morning, the family woke up and found their special gift of community love.

Angels are everywhere.

25 comments:

  1. Sometimes it seems we live in a world of despair and that our society is lacking in simple empathy and kindness. But stories like this make us realize that at the core we are caring,giving people that will reach out when there is need. Thank you sharing Barb! So glad I dropped in this morning. XOXO

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    1. Beautifully said, Mary! So glad you dropped by too.

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  2. That is so wonderful! What a beautiful, caring thing for the community to do! They have really wrapped their hearts around this family . Thanks for sharing this Barb. xo

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    1. "They really wrapped their hearts around this family." Exactly!

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  3. Awwwh thats just wonderful.....You're right Barb. Angels are EVERYWHERE...!!!
    This gesture is so heartwarming...!!! I can imagine how wonderful the family mustve felt :)

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    1. Yes, I think they were really moved. So beautiful.

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  4. What a very touching way to this family from this community. Its amazing how people pull together in someones elses time of need. I love this story

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    1. Me too, Lyndsie. People's beauty still surprises and delights me!

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  5. How sweet and kind. So touching. The world needs more people like that.

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  6. How beautiful. It's nice to be reminded that there are so many lovely people in the world.

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  7. That is an amazing idea to help this family heal <3

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  8. Yep. Crying.

    We should all hang hearts on each other's yards... even when NOTHING bad happens.

    If I lived closer, your yard would be covered in hearts.

    xox

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    1. You know how I would love that, Gae! Lori says you mean it too.

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  9. Oh, I love this!!!

    I do yarnbombing. This just added a new treat to my repertoire.

    Still, though, sad that your neighbors are enduring a tragedy. :(

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    1. Rigel, of course I thought of you on this one. Totally knew this would be up your alley. Our hearts literally go out to this family.

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  10. Wow. This makes my heart smile. I'm reminded of one of my favorite verses in scripture from Hebrews, "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."

    Angels are everywhere. :)

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  11. Beautiful and so special. Angels are eveywhere, indeed.

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  12. Wow. That's so awesome. :] It's really surreal to me that complete strangers and well-known friends can pull their resources together like that. So sad for what the family is going through. My thoughts are with them.

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  13. Aw that's so sweet! I'm definitely adding that to my (conceptual)list of ideas!

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  14. Actually, Deb or Barb, could I pretty please ask a favour? Is there any chance you could delete for me the anonymous comment I left on the "If you love downtown abbey, you will love..." post? It's the one where I give the link to my facebook page. When I went back to delete them to protect my privacy I realised I couldn't delete the anonymnously posted one :P Sorry to be a pain.

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  15. That's a beautiful way to send a message of support and caring. I'm proud of the women of our local town for making such a sweet gesture and inspiring others to do the same.

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  16. That's so wonderful. It reminds me, when 1,5 years ago my brothers family lost pretty much everything (some stuff was saved, like 2% of what they owned) in fire. It wasn't a big fire, but the smoke ruined it all. It was a week before Christmas. My sister in law was so worried that the children won't have any Christmas or presents (as they were burned as well). Luckily I hadn't taken mine or my sisters gifts there yet. To shorten the story a bit, they received food from co-workers and friends invited them to eat the Christmas dinner (they went to three different places 24th, 25th, 26th). They also received a sofa as a donation. They were also lucky because they hadn't yet sold their old place yet. Yes it was their new home that burned.

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  17. Oh, that made me well up too. *grabs a tissue* What a beautiful gesture. You know, stories like this restore my faith in humanity. The outpouring of love and support for people in need, whether it's a personal tragedy or a huge natural disaster, shows that we can pull together and rise above petty differences for our fellow humans. For all the evil in the world, there's still so much good.

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  18. awesome story! it seems that in the bustle of everyday life we forget the role that our community plays in our lives ~ until something happens, and then we are reminded that we are part of one race truly are not alone in this world...

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