Thirty Dollars And Two Boiled Eggs

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Thirty Dollars And Two Boiled Eggs

by Donald Cantrell

Kids say the most profound things without even trying; they are a vault of wisdom and can bring life down to the basics. A few weeks ago, it was my granddaughter Kinsley’s birthday. She turned 8 years old, and we had a small family get-together. Then we took her to Pigeon Forge and got a motel with a nice inside swimming pool for one night; she was in heaven on earth.

The Friday after her birthday, she received a belated birthday card which contained 30 dollars. My daughter told her that they would be going shopping on Saturday and Kinsley could buy some Barbie dolls, which is her thing at this time. Well, that Friday night, she decided to spend the night with us, and we watched “Woody Woodpecker before easing off to bed.

The next morning, we got up and she wanted breakfast; in the end, she chose to eat two boiled eggs, so my wife made her two boiled eggs. As they were gathered together in the kitchen and peeling the eggs, my wife told Kinsley something to the effect of, “Girl, you have it made,” to which Kinsley replied, “I have 30 dollars and two boiled eggs.”

I was working on my computer as I heard those simple words: “I have 30 dollars and two boiled eggs.” I felt so much guilt within my heart at her innocence and her contentment. In her little world, she had more than she could ask for; she had more money than she could fathom, and she was happy to be eating something that would satisfy her hunger, so what more could an 8-year-old girl need?

In my heart, I was asking myself, “Why can’t you be just as contented?” How many times do we fall into the trap of more and never allow ourselves to reach the place of childlike contentment? Most all of us have it better than we ever have, yet we never find the place of real contentment, right? We are always looking for more, for bigger, for better, and we never enjoy what we have, so we keep on robbing ourselves of true contentment.

Discontentment is a thief: it robs us of today’s joy, and it places unneeded burdens on us concerning tomorrow, while if we would just stop and enjoy the moment, we might find out that things are better than we could fathom. Would that new job really make you more contented, or would it add unwanted burdens to the burdens you already have? Would that new house or car really add to your joy, or would it rob you of time with your family due to having to work more?

The next time you feel as if you are becoming discontented, that you are falling into the trap of “more means better,” and you want to chase after something, just remember the little girl who said she was happy because she had “30 dollars and two boiled eggs!”

About The Author Donald Cantrell is a lifelong native of Murray county and has been pastoring and preaching since 1980. He has had the honor of publishing over thirty books and his sermon material is sold all over the world by various online companies. If you visit his house any weekend in the fall you will find them watching the “Florida Gators or the New England Patriots… Chomp Chomp.”

CASA: Court Appointed Special Advocates

Right now, 217 of our local children are living in foster care. When a child comes into foster care it is because the Juvenile Court Judge has made a determination that the child was a victim of abuse or neglect, and was so unsafe in their home that there was no choice but to take them away from their own family. This is a huge loss for the child. Beyond that, the judge made the determination that there was no one else available to take over their care, so they had to come under the care of the state. This, for a child, is often a very frightening turn of events. At this point, the government of Georgia effectively becomes the temporary parent to that child. Our government, however, was not designed to be a mom. The former Juvenile Court Judge, The Honorable Connie Blaylock, used to put it simply, “foster care is not a good parent.” That isn’t to undervalue the compassionate, tireless, finely tuned, high quality service work done by foster parents, DFCS case managers, therapists, court personnel and other professionals working within our local child welfare system, but it is to say that the goal of our system is not to be anybody’s long-term parent.

When a child comes into the custody of the state of Georgia for his or her own safety. The goal of our system is to try to find a way for that child to go home. We want to explore every opportunity for that family, who could be struggling under any number of devastating burdens or trauma, to find healing and to be able to be back together again. The parents are given a set of goals and a window of time to work, with the support of many providers, towards changing their home from an unsafe place to a safe place, so that the child can come home. During this period of time, the child remains in foster care, in limbo, uncertain of the future. It’s for this time that a CASA volunteer comes in to help. “CASA” stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate.

A CASA is appointed to the child by the Judge, to be the child’s advocate throughout his or her entire journey through foster care. These 217 local kids in foster care are from and part of this community. They are not the state’s kids; they are our kids. CASA volunteers feel that deeply and personally. This window of time that our kids are in foster care is an opportunity that we, as their community, have to step in, at a particularly tough, scary moment to let them know, “We believe in you, we are here for you, you have a place with us, we expect great things from you, and we are here to fight for you.” It’s an opportunity for us, as their village, to tell our children that they are strong, capable, worthy, and loved. That is an extraordinary opportunity for our community to be able to participate in, and it is one CASA volunteers are capitalizing on when they go through a training and learn how to do this work. Most of our volunteers do not have any kind of background in social work. We provide intensive training, and we have staff who work with each volunteer individually to support them every step of the way through their cases.

If you have a heart for people around you in need, if you’re teachable, and if you have 15 free hours a month, get in touch with us to find out more about what our volunteers do and how you could join our next training. Call or email Tracy Harmon at 706428-7931 or tharmon@fscdalton.com or find us at familysupportcouncil. com/programs/CASA.php or on Facebook.