Disjointed Thoughts Today

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25:32-40

This was part of yesterday's sermon at church. I admit that it isn't vary often that a sermon at church completely captures my attention. But yesterday's message was near and dear to my heart, and encouraged action by us as believers to do more to care for the less fortunate. The Pastor shared some remarkable statistics that showed that the majority of people around the world live on less than $10,000 a year. And actually, something like 20% of the world's poor live on less than $1200 per year. That is staggering to me. And so disturbing. We struggle with making ends meet sometime, and we're technically considered some of the world's wealthiest! Just thinking about that makes me want to do something different.

Then last night, as if driving the message home, I was flipping channels and came upon a show that was showing the life of hoarders. People who hoard stuff, and literally live in awful circumstances simply because they need so much to feel comfort. That right there made me determined that I would wake up this morning and tackle a project I had been ignoring for awhile. I don't know what, but some drawer or cupboard that needs to be cleaned out. And then later on, after the show about hoarding was something even worse, as they were showing people who were addicted to food... my heart went out to these people who consume somewhere around 15,000 calories a day, simply because they can't stop. Both of these shows were about excess, and to me it really drove home the point from the message yesterday that we don't need as much as we think we do.

So many of us have our priorities messed up. (Myself included, to be certain.) We think we have to have the next great thing. We think we need 20 different candle holders, because we never know when we might use them. We need to fill our homes with stuff- with furniture and knick-knacks and just the right curtains because the world says our homes need to be full of stuff. Just the other day I was thinking that I need to dash out and purchase the things to re-do one of our bathrooms. I need new rugs and wall-hangings, even though the current rugs are perfectly serviceable. Thankfully I listened to reason, but it's so easy to get caught up in the gotta-have-it syndrome.

Something I have been working on lately is rearranging things in our home to be more inviting to people. Adding touches of warmth here and there, and removing cold things like excess knick-knacks and objects that serve no purpose. To make our home more kid-friendly, most of the breakable stuff has been gotten rid of, there's just no need to all that stuff! With our small group meeting at our home, it's become important to us to not fill the home with stuff, just because, but to make it warm and inviting. God has blessed us with the gift of hospitality, and we're working to bring our home inline with that gift.

And yet there's all those people out there who have so little... those people who work so hard for each and every morsel of food their family eats. Parents who eat just a bite or two at each meal so that their children can have the nourishment they need. There has to be more that we as Christians we can do to help these people. Something more that we can do than give a few dollars to a cause. I'm not sure what the answer is. But for now, we can take care of our neighbors by doing what we can locally. It's important that we remember our local food pantries and food banks- or organizations like Second Harvest. In many places there are also organizations teaching people how to source their own food- like teaching urban gardening or farming. I'm certain that God's placing all these thoughts on my heart for a reason. It will be exciting to see the path it leads me down in the future.

(Tomorrow I'll get back to Abram.)