During the holidays, it’s fairly easy to find ways to extend compassion. Opportunities to serve a meal in a soup kitchen, contribute to a coat drive or donate “Toys for Tots” seem to inundate us. We show hospitality to our neighbors and even strangers. This year, our family bought gifts for the Breakthrough Urban Ministries Christmas Store, bought kids coats for the coat drive at our church, contributed to our year-end fund which helps international missions, put coins in Salvation Army collection kettles. My kids bought “education for an orphan” through World Vision as a “gift” for my parents by making a donation in their name. My daughter volunteered in the three-year-old room at our church’s Christmas services, my friend and I served breakfast at the homeless shelter, we welcomed our neighbors over for dessert after taking them to a Christmas service, and so on.

The Christmas Store at Breakthrough is pretty cool. People donate toys and gifts for both children and adults. Residents of the East Garfield Park neighborhood (where Breakthrough ministers via its pre-school, sports program, tutoring center, homeless shelter, etc.) are invited to come to the store to shop for gifts. Everything is deeply discounted, so although they have to spend money, they spend much less than they would at WalMart (if there were even a WalMart anywhere near their neighborhood. There’s not). East Garfield Park (ironically located a mile west of downtown Chicago) has very little retail development besides liquor stores and corner convenience stores. I don’t think it even has a regular grocery store.

There were hoards of volunteers, including church youth groups, helping out at the Christmas Store. About 200 local families qualified to shop the store and have their gifts wrapped for free. Which I think is great. But now, Christmas is over for another year. It’s often tempting to put our motivation to help the poor into storage, along with the wreaths, lights and dancing Santa statues. For many of us, acts of compassion are not a lifestyle, but something we do at the holidays. In fact, when someone is being greedy or mean during December, others often will chide them, “Oh, be nice. It’s Christmas, after all.”

What if we were to live lives of simple compassion not just in December but every month? I believe that if we made compassion a lifestyle, we’d live better lives. And of course, so would the people we help.

How do you do that? One small step at a time. This week, we’re kicking off a blog tour for my newest title, Simple Compassion. The tour will include reviews, interviews, and so on. The blog posts will have ideas about how to live compassionately all year long. Sometimes, living compassionately means going beyond just extending charity. It might mean going out of your way to talk to people you’d ordinarily avoid. Or simply taking steps to increase your awareness of the plight of the poor. Ultimately, it’s a journey that will ask you to go beyond mere charity to fighting injustice. But you can only start right where you are, so the thing is to simply begin.

A huge first step is awareness. Where does the love of God need to shine? Where has God put you? What small thing could you do to share his love, to shine his light, right where you are?

To help you do that, we’re also asking bloggers, their readers, and you, to take it up a notch. We want to see people put into practice the things I write about in Simple Compassion. Here’s the challenge: intentionally perform one "act of compassion" per week for the month of January. It could be as simple as writing a note of encouragement to a friend or as involved as giving up a Saturday to take sandwiches to the homeless people in your area. This time of year, it could mean shoveling a neighbor’s driveway or bringing a meal to a family going through a hard time.

Feel free to be creative, the only stipulation is to be intentional. Then tell us about your experience(s) either on my blog (as a comment), on your blog or at SayitFacetoFace.com, or YouTube.com. Put a link to your comment on my blog so we can turn this into a community experience. Let’s learn from and encourage each other!

I hope that you will visit the blogs that are participating in the tour this week, and leave a comment (many are holding drawings for free books). But then, try participating in this simple compassion challenge—to perform one act of compassion a week, for the next four weeks. And then, post a video or leave a comment on my blog about what you did.

The world’s problems may sometimes seem daunting, or overwhelming. We can’t solve every problem in the world, but we can help one person. We can change one life, maybe starting with our own. And that can make a difference!

Here are some reviews of Simple Compassion that have already been posted.

“The book offers inspiration and motivation to explore how God is calling each of us to grow hearts full of compassion. What a refreshing way to approach a topic like this that should be rooted in prayer and meditation by having an only a once a week reading. This creates space to open our hearts to how God is calling us and our eyes to fully see injustice surrounding us.” Click here to read more.

“I found myself nodding through the devotions, looking with fresh eyes at many of the biblical truths I often take for granted. Written specifically for women, Keri doesn't waste any time, nor does she mince words about the powerful role of women in the Kingdom of God. Over and over the reader is pointed back to God as the source of our wisdom and strength as we move to love those around us.” Click here to read more.

                                                 ~Billy Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats

New audio posted! Also on the speaking page, you can listen to audio excerpts from Keri’s teaching sessions at the Willow Creek women’s class on prayer.

Keri is on Facebook and Twitter! Friend her, follow her, send her a message there.

Keri’s monthly “For Your Soul” column provides encouragement and soul care for leaders. Check it out at http://www.christianitytoday.com/childrensministry/features/foryoursoul.html

Keri will be the keynote speaker at a women’s ministry dinner at Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church in Marietta, GA on January 14, 2010.

Keri is part of the teaching team for a daytime class at Willow Creek Community Church (South Barrington campus) called Ordinary People, Extraordinary Transformation. The 12-week class will be a study of John Ortberg’s book The Life You've Always Wanted and is open to anyone. It meets from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Thursdays from February 4th - April 29th. To register go to www.willowcreek.org/classes.

The Chicago Synergy women's leadership event will be held January 23 at Christ Church Oak Brook.  Learn more at www.synergytoday.org.

Keri will lead a one-day "Simple Compassion" seminar for women at Breakthrough Urban Ministries on February 20.  This one-day seminar will jump start your justice journey.  We will look very practically at how we can become women who make a difference:  women who act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.  It will provide a safe, guilt-free environment for discussing, asking questions, reflecting and strategizing.  Space is limited.  To register for this day (it's only $35 and includes a free book), email Mike Murphy at mmurphy@breakthrough.org.

Keri will the keynote speaker at Breath Women's retreat at Camp Portage Lake Covenant Bible Camp Onekama, MI, March 5-7, 2010. Keri is now booking a limited number of speaking engagements for 2010.  For details, contact her at www.keriwyattkent.com/speaking.htm.