My family never had an abundance of money when I was growing
up. But somehow we always had what
we needed, though often not what we wanted. With the help
of scholarships, I worked my way through college. I met my wife in
college and she helped me work through graduate school. Eventually I earned a
doctorate. Through hard work, and careful
planning, my wife and I have been able to provide a middle class
lifestyle for our children. Though our children have never been rich,
they have also never known poverty.
One of the blessings of being middle class is taking a
vacation. For several summers my family enjoying a week at the beach, where we
would rent a house for a week. For that one week in the summer, we enjoyed
living like we were rich people at the beach, even though we were not. The
summer my daughter got married we rented a bigger house than normal for all the
wedding guests and we really felt rich. The house looked like something on a TV
show about rich people. It helped that the groom’s family knew the owners and
got us a good deal! During that week my family discussed how blessed we were to
experience this level of luxury, even if only for a week. In the discussion we
also talked about what it must be like for people who live in other nations in
which such luxury is not possible, even for a week-long vacation.
We specifically talked about Haiti, since our family has visited
that small island nation on a mission trip and one of my sons spent a whole
summer serving orphans there. The poverty in Haiti is almost unimaginable. Food
prices are so high in Haiti that some of the people eat what is commonly referred
to as dirt biscuits. The biscuits are made from dried yellow clay
mixed with water, salt and vegetable shortening or margarine. Though originally
designed for medicinal purposes, the biscuits have now become the staple diet
for some people in Haiti. It is hard for those of us who live in America to
imagine people being so hungry they would eat a biscuit made from
dirt. Yet, that is a common meal for far too many people in Haiti.
As we sat in our rented beach house enjoying our wedding
party and eating far too much food, we could not help but think about people in
places like Haiti who were eating dirt biscuits to stave off hunger for one
more day. Dirt biscuits came up several times in our conversations that week.
But it must be more than just a subject of conversation. It must translate into
action. That is why our family supports the ministry of God's Littlest
Angels orphanage in Petionville, Haiti. We felt compelled to put feet to
our conversation.
Those of us who have been blessed by God must do something
to make a difference in the lives of those who are not so blessed. The Gospel
of Matthew reminds us that when we help the least of these in the name of
Christ, then we have served Christ Himself. This is a powerful truth to
remember in a world full of inequity.
Lord, help those of us who have so much see the needs of
those who have so little and respond in ways that can make a real difference.
Amen.
This devotional is from the book “Heavenly Mundane” by Dr.
Terry W. Dorsett. Dr. Dorsett has been a pastor, church planter, denominational
leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a
happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a
cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully
through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of
his books at:
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