I got tickled during Sunday school because I don't have that option of ignoring people's needs. I can't tell people, I'm sorry your baby doesn't have any food. My husband and I got into a fight or we are poor, or I have a lot of paperwork to complete and I don't have time for you. NO! I have to find a way to get this family food. I have to make sure families have insurance,food, money for utilities, clothes, and a roof over their heads. That is so normal for me. I have to have a heart for the weary and the downtrodden. I can't say,"Maybe some other time," or "I'll do it when it's convenient for me." Often times I have been telling my husband or friends about certain situations and their response is less than comforting. I can't even take their advice because they don't have the heart. They aren't empathetic for these families.
I met a family that has six children, no electricity, no running water, and they are too poor for vehicles. When I told some people about this situation their response to it was,"Shouldn't the mother have learned to have kept her legs together." That's not the point though. The point is is that that's their life and I have to do something to help. We donated to this family a microwave. This wasn't a new microwave by any means. It was just a normal microwave that someone had donated to us. It was clean. When this family saw the microwave, they cried. In their home, they don't have a stove so the only way they could cook would be with a microwave. They were very appreciative of the microwave, but the thing they were most appreciative for was the fact that the microwave wasn't a piece of crap. Yes, poor people need items and they don't have the money to pay for them, but they don't want to feel worse about their lives by receiving someone's junk charity.
I also have a client tell me that she hated all people who went to church. Now, this lady is a Christian and believes in God. She had a greater faith that God will provide more than anyone else I know. She has to rely on that faith because if God doesn't provide then they won't be able to eat or have gas for their vehicle to go grocery shopping. The reason she said that she hated people who went to church was because they were just going for themselves and they didn't have a heart for the needy. This particular client has a mixed granddaughter. Her granddaughter has been turned away from a birthday party because the birthday girl's mother didn't know that this child was mixed. How hurtful and rude is that? And that mother goes to church!! I informed my client that indeed I went to church pretty much every Sunday. My client shared with me that she believed that I was one of the few who actually cared about helping others. This conversation let me to the first couple chapters of James. I am just going to include a few verses to highlight my point.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
12 Blessed are those who persevere under trial, because when they have stood the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because our anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Those who listen to the word but do not do what it says are like people who look at their faces in a mirror 24 and, after looking at themselves, go away and immediately forget what they look like. 25 But those who look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continue in it—not forgetting what they have heard but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 2
2 Suppose someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor person in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the one wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the one who is poor, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself,"[a] you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if people claim to have faith but have no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
I end my blog by asking the readers to open their eyes to the people around them. Just because people might look like "White Trash" or they are uneducated doesn't mean that they don't notice how you are looking at them. We need to love. Love just isn't saying it, it is an action word. The hard part of my job is that I can't save everyone. I can't make my clients rich or show them how not to struggle anymore, but I can show them that at least one person cares.
3 comments:
So true! It's so sad that Church going people are like this. A lot of church people don't even realize that it's the Church's job to take care of the poor and the widows. How much good we could do if we all followed the Word we so tightly cling too : ). Anyway, thanks for posting this Dana : ) You are so right, it doesn't really matter how they got there, what matters is they need help.
Dana I agree with you to a point. I understand that some people actually try to provide for their families and just have a rough go of it. What I have a major problem with is when women get pregnant because a) they're lazy and don't want to take BC pills or b)they're trying to keep their boyfriend around-and they expect the government (AKA you and me) to pay for it. We have some girls at my hospital who quit their job as soon as they find out they're pregnant and then go on gov. assistance. I also have a serious problem with pregnant people who think medicaid, WIC, and food stamps are a profession. Sometimes I get so frustrated with this, because our tax money could be going to poor people who really need it, instead of lazy people who want an easy way out.
By the way, I love what you do for the community of Bolivar. You probably make more of a difference in the lives of the poor citizens than any elected official!
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