What can I do?

You know how we look on television, and see all those commercials for kids in Africa or some other third-world country and they ask us to donate something, but we all roll our eyes and say how on earth will that help? How will my $1 donation help some poor child clear across the world?

And we don't do it.

Don't let this be one of those times.

My good friend Katelyn, author of Nothing More Beautiful, recently posted a story about a young boy who has suffered more than any 11-year-old should endure. His name is Marius and he's from Romania. Katelyn relates that:

One night a boiler exploded in his house, killing his parents and leaving him with third and fourth-degree burns over seventy-five percent of his body. Thanks to some skilled surgeons, a couple of BYU students and their families as well as countless others who have contributed to his recovery, Marius has made tremendous progress and is now about to be adopted into a loving family here in the United States.

Katelyn's friend Mark is creating a documentary about Marius's story and needs funds to do so. The mother of the family wanting to adopt Marius has just found out she has cancer, something that has obviously added to the stress of the situation and stretches the financial difficulties. I'll let you read more about the cause here,where Katelyn outlines the problems in a better detail. Here is the actual website for Marius with a small clip about his story.

It will tear your heart out.

Now before you say, Oh sad! But someone else will donate, I'm sure of it. Pause and take a second to think. How often are we given these opportunities to follow the example of Jesus Christ, who gave of Himself selflessly to all who came to Him. Who was a mender of broken things. And how often do we take those opportunities? I can honestly say for myself, not a whole lot. So can we take just a little bit of ourselves and give it to a boy who has lost so much, who remains happy and positive, even in the face of all he has been through? I will give what I can. And that's all the Lord asks. Is to give what you can. So please do.

Finishing off with a poem quoted in a talk that Katelyn references in her post, a talk given by Elder Jeffery R. Holland in the LDS General Conference of April 2006:

In Nazareth, the narrow road,
That tires the feet and steals the breath,
Passes the place where once abode
The Carpenter of Nazareth.
And up and down the dusty way
The village folk would often wend;
And on the bench, beside Him, lay
Their broken things for Him to mend.
The maiden with the doll she broke,
The woman with the broken chair,
The man with broken plough, or yoke,
Said, "Can you mend it, Carpenter?"
And each received the thing he sought,
In yoke, or plough, or chair, or doll;
The broken thing which each had brought
Returned again a perfect whole.
So, up the hill the long years through,
With heavy step and wistful eye,
The burdened souls their way pursue,
Uttering each the plaintive cry:
"O Carpenter of Nazareth,
This heart, that's broken past repair,
This life, that's shattered nigh to death,
Oh, can You mend them, Carpenter?"
And by His kind and ready hand,
His own sweet life is woven through
Our broken lives, until they stand
A New Creation—"all things new."
"The shattered [substance] of [the] heart,
Desire, ambition, hope, and faith,
Mould Thou into the perfect part,
O, Carpenter of Nazareth!"1

We can do this guys!