the Untied way

Have you ever seen Inside Out? You know how Riley's memory bank workers occasionally send an unrelated memory up the chute to dance on repeat in her head? Well, when I was a kid, I heard a clip on the radio about The Untied Way. Nope, that's not a typo, not the United way, but the Untied Way. And every now and then, the Untied way clip plays in my brain.

The Untied way is a philosophy that promotes giving freely (no strings attached, no expectations) and generously ("charity should hurt a little bit") to people around you. It's a stop-gap support, a drop of kindness to the people who have fallen through the cracks between cracks.

I googled it today to see if anyone else has thought about it since the 90s, and found an oldish article - Click here if you want to read it.

I think it really resonated with me and stuck in my head because it seemed like a Jesus sort of generosity. No bureaucracy. No demands. No rewards or tax receipts or strings*. Just - as you can, do. 

When He told the story of the good Samaritan, Jesus asked "who was the neighbour to the beat-up guy on the road?" And the answer was: the one who cared for him.

It wasn't the priest.

It wasn't the deacon.

(It wasn't organized religion.)

It was the stranger who stopped, and helped, and carried him to bed.

That's how we love, and that's how we put our arms around the world at Christmas time and anytime: love our neighbours as ourselves. 

We stop when we see a need.

And we help.

However we can.

Untied. Freely.

It's the joyfullest part of Christmas.

Xo.

(*please know I'm not bashing organizations or tax receipts! They enable us to give even more. I just mean that sometimes people need help, people right in front of us, and not on the other end of an organization.)