Just a few hours earlier I'd been at home reading Katie Davis's blog. The Mister and I were looking at a picture of some children carrying plastic sacks on their heads, and I was telling him how the kids who came to Amazima while we were there would literally fight over unripened mangos as they knocked them out of the trees with a giant stick. They would scurry around, scooping up the hard, green fruit, filling their little torn, dirty plastic bags, then guarding them like a prize. The younger kids often lost their treasure to the older ones.
Because they're hungry. Truly hungry. The kind of hunger my kids and I have never known.
And there I stood in Wal*Mart, passing over one apple after another after another. Because this one had a broken spot in the peel, and that one had a yellow place on one side, and another had a small bruise. And as I stood there, the picture of the children at Amazima came back to me. And I hung my head, wondering if everyone else around me was shaking their head at my pickiness. I sighed and quickly scooped a couple of apples into my sack.
Most of the time I’m overwhelmed with trying to figure out how I can afford to buy groceries while avoiding the BPAs in canned foods, the pesticides in fresh foods, the nitrates and nitrites in lunch meat, the hormones in milk, and on and on (and on). And just this week I read this post about how the chocolate I buy is most likely produced by child slaves. Oh. My. Word. (I did skip the Hershey’s cocoa at the store. Haven’t quite figured out what I’m gonna do about that yet.)
All the way home from the store I thought about this. God is messing with my heart, and I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do about it. Does this mean I’m supposed to choose the worse-looking fruit at Wal*Mart? Am I supposed to skip the luxury of fruit altogether? Is it wrong for me to spend more for organic? Should we be eating beans and rice every day because that’s all some of these children in Uganda get?
I can’t quite talk about the chocolate issue yet, but here’s what I think about the fruit. I don’t think it’s really about the fruit. Or about buying organic, or eating rice and beans every day. I think it’s about......hold on......wait for it......our hearts.
And that doesn't just mean how we feel about those who have less, but the action we're willing to take.
The issue is, what are we DOING about the children who eat nothing but rice and beans every day (if they even get to eat every day) while we eat a vast array of perfect, fresh, organic fruit and every other kind of food we could possibly ever dream of? (And obviously, this analogy could be applied to any number of different scenarios.) Are we ignoring them? Looking the other way? Shaking our heads and saying “how sad” while we go about life as usual? Because if we are, that’s when something’s wrong.
It's not about feeling guilty for what we have. God is the One who decided where we would be born, where we would live, and (though open to debate) what jobs we would have. But while I don't think we’re supposed to go through life feeling guilty, I think we ARE supposed to take the blessings we’ve been given and use them for the good of others. God didn’t give us all this stuff just so we could sit in our luxury and satisfy our own insatiable desires. He has given us what we have so that we can give and share and help others.
Every blessing we have been given – every gift, every talent, every ability, every financial gain – is given to us for the purpose of serving others.
What I think God was saying to me in the produce section at Wal*Mart was not, “Don’t be so picky about your apples,” but simply “Remember”.
- Remember that the vast majority of people in the world don’t have the luxury of being picky with their fruit (or anything else they eat, for that matter).
- Remember that I have been blessed to be a blessing. It’s not just a pretty cliché, it’s TRUTH.
- Remember that I am among the wealthiest people in the world - when compared to the rest of the world – and with that wealth comes great responsibility.
- Remember that saying, “I felt sad for them” isn’t going to be the right answer when Jesus asks me what I did about the people I saw all around me in dire need.
Oh Jesus, change my heart. Lord, I’m so selfish and me-focused. I hurry through life only looking out for myself and my own family. Continue to break my heart for the things that break Yours, and then give me the COURAGE to step out of my comfort zone and do something about it. Make me know Your ways, Oh Lord, teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me. (Ps. 25:4-5)
I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale
you are a great example to me. thanks for this reminder... i think you have it exactly right.
ReplyDeletewe do have enough to serve.
we need to remember and look and do what we can. and, when we cannot, we need to say "i would if i could."
yup. it's not about the apples-- if only it were that easy.
Such a great post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this.
ReplyDeleteHe will not want to hear "I felt sad for them." Powerful reminder friend. In the end, it's about bringing Him glory. Feeling sorry does not accomplish that great calling.
ReplyDelete