MY OWN THOUGHTS ON SAVING THE WORLD

Children of the black dust/ My own thoughts on saving the world . .
"Think about the starving children in Africa", I frequently hear from others when I am told to be thankful for all I have. We've all been told that at some point. Yet we are all so self involved with our own personal tragedies and worries, its a challenge to keep up with all the horrific tragedy that occurs in everyday life over seas. Should we really care? I mean it doesn't seem that we can do anything about it.Also just because we are aware of others and their sufferings, doesn't take away the reality of our own suffering.
If there were two of me I suppose one of me would stay home with the kids and the other me would be feeding the homeless, working in an orphanage in Calcutta, saving child prostitutes in the Philippines, helping young mothers in the inner city. The need is just so great . . . But what can I do at this minute when I hear about these sad stories of real people that experience such darkness each day? I think the answer is not only to pray for those that suffer worldwide, but to embrace the tragic reality of their lives and carry it with me in my heart. Ignoring it will only make me complacent. Convincing myself that its not my job to one day help, or that the need is too great to meet, will only seal my fate to live out the American dream, with no regard to the dieing and lonely people in the rest of the world. In ten years I'll be so wrapped up in my own life that I'll have no time to even think of the starving children and orphans and homeless. But wait, that doesn't need to be the case.
I have been thinking of things I can do lately to make my own children aware of the rest of the world. One of my ideas was to buy a world map and hang it in our house. Each week I would pin a different place in the world and teach my children who lives there and the history of that country and then specifically pray for the needs of that country. It seems so simple, but profound all at once.I would be so blessed to instill that concern for others in the hearts of my children.
I don't necessarily think its a good idea to put ministry before family.After all, our first ministry should be our own family. I have seen and heard stories of families and children ruined by this notion to put the needs of the world before the needs of their family. The dysfunction and hurt being the direct result of diving in to save the world,while putting your own family on the back burner.
Mother Teresa said "It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.
She also said, "We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty".
How profound is that? Isn't she right? If I cannot have compassion, respect and love for my own husband and children then in my mind, I do not belong over seas as a missionary. On the other hand, none of us are perfect and I do not think that God expects perfection in order to use us. If that were the case we would all be rendered absolutely useless.
So in being reminded once again of the poverty of others I think these are my thoughts on the issue. I should be concerned the most for my family, then my nearest neighbor, my friends, and even my enemies. After I can say I have honestly made a great effort to love those people placed in my life I can move on to be faithful in loving those poor souls that are the forgotten of this world.
But in the meantime, until the right time comes to go and help those people. I can daily remind myself and even immerse myself in being aware of the poverty and injustice in this world and I can make others aware of it as well. So read the article below and contemplate your own life today and don't forget the poor! Jesus said not to. I'm going to get that world map today. .



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As she cleans the carbon rods from exhausted D-cell batteries, Marjina holds her young child on her lap and gently lulls her to sleep.
Learn about these peoples lives, and contemplate your own in comparison. Be thankful for all we have.