Learn to see
We like to go through life with our eyes firmly shut against the pain and anguish that surrounds us. We select a nice, comfortable pair of glasses with rose-colored lenses and don them as soon as we leave the house every morning.
The pretty colored lenses are our friend; they mirror back to us a warm and fuzzy world aglow with happy people dancing under an azure sky, and undermine the giant strokes of grays and blacks painted upon the landscape of reality we refuse to acknowledge.
We can rub the lenses, buy even bigger ones, but sooner or later, our dear friend won't be able to tinge our lives with permanent hues of coral and amber. One day, our protective glasses are yanked from us, and we greet the world as it is: a blur of tears, dirt, moans, pangs, poverty and suffering, so much suffering.
The earth echoes with the groans of the afflicted, the soil is collapsing, sinking under the tears and blood of agonized bodies who lie buried beneath its entrails.
According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. Every year, 8 million people die because they are too poor to stay alive. 1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty.
The figures are staggering. Oftentimes, they leave us feeling small and helpless. Our hearts pulsate with the sighs and cries of the faceless human beings these numbers represent. How can we fight against such an enemy? We are only one, we only have two arms and two legs, what can we possibly do? If poverty hasn't been eradicated after so much effort from people who gave their lives to the poor, how can we expect to win the battle?
Who told us we have to win? The battle is not ours in the first place. It is the Lord's, and He will intervene, when the time is right. Meanwhile, we can look at the bare, wilted plains of a person's face ravaged by hunger and desperation, feel the battered soul begging for hope, and do something for that one person, that one child.
Open your eyes today, discard the rose-colored glasses, and ask, God, who can I help today? How can I improve conditions for a child or adult reeling under the burden of poverty and despair?
Sit still and wait for His answer. It will come.
Sponsor a child, have a garage sale now that the weather is so nice, and donate the proceeds to a church or organization that is committed to helping people who toil day and night for so little in return, and watch God
do a work in your life.Your grieving heart will begin to thaw a little bit, one beat at a time.
When you get discouraged in your walk to fight alongside the oppressed and afflicted, ponder on this lovely quote from Johnny Carr, the author of Orphan Justice, "Poverty is not necessarily an issue to solve; it is an opportunity to serve. As we go through each day, our heart's cry should be, Lord, where would you have me give, serve, and invest myself to bring hope to the poor?"
Now go out, give, love, become a channel of hope and compassion to a dying and desperate world. Glow with His love.
We can rub the lenses, buy even bigger ones, but sooner or later, our dear friend won't be able to tinge our lives with permanent hues of coral and amber. One day, our protective glasses are yanked from us, and we greet the world as it is: a blur of tears, dirt, moans, pangs, poverty and suffering, so much suffering.
The earth echoes with the groans of the afflicted, the soil is collapsing, sinking under the tears and blood of agonized bodies who lie buried beneath its entrails.
According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. Every year, 8 million people die because they are too poor to stay alive. 1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty.
The figures are staggering. Oftentimes, they leave us feeling small and helpless. Our hearts pulsate with the sighs and cries of the faceless human beings these numbers represent. How can we fight against such an enemy? We are only one, we only have two arms and two legs, what can we possibly do? If poverty hasn't been eradicated after so much effort from people who gave their lives to the poor, how can we expect to win the battle?
Who told us we have to win? The battle is not ours in the first place. It is the Lord's, and He will intervene, when the time is right. Meanwhile, we can look at the bare, wilted plains of a person's face ravaged by hunger and desperation, feel the battered soul begging for hope, and do something for that one person, that one child.
Open your eyes today, discard the rose-colored glasses, and ask, God, who can I help today? How can I improve conditions for a child or adult reeling under the burden of poverty and despair?
Sit still and wait for His answer. It will come.
Sponsor a child, have a garage sale now that the weather is so nice, and donate the proceeds to a church or organization that is committed to helping people who toil day and night for so little in return, and watch God
do a work in your life.Your grieving heart will begin to thaw a little bit, one beat at a time.
When you get discouraged in your walk to fight alongside the oppressed and afflicted, ponder on this lovely quote from Johnny Carr, the author of Orphan Justice, "Poverty is not necessarily an issue to solve; it is an opportunity to serve. As we go through each day, our heart's cry should be, Lord, where would you have me give, serve, and invest myself to bring hope to the poor?"
Now go out, give, love, become a channel of hope and compassion to a dying and desperate world. Glow with His love.
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