Below are some reflections from
Elizabeth’s diary.
Today this is how I am feeling about my life among the poor.
There are people who come to be helped and I help them as best
I can. Many come and are helped. Finally, I have to stop and
close the door. However, it is not the faces of the people that
I have helped that stay with me, but the faces of the ones left
standing with no help.
It is a heavy burden to live among those who have not; to be
the one with wealth among the poor. It is true that wealth is
not only measured in material possessions. But it is hard to
live knowing that you have enough to eat while those around
you go to sleep hungry and that you can go to the doctor and
get most treatments you need while they don’t have money
to cover the doctor’s fee or a simple dose of antibiotics.
The lady who washes your clothes asks for money in the morning
so that she can buy rice for that day’s meals.
A friend cannot afford 55 dollars to fix her roof and so must
crowd her family in with neighbors during the rainy season.
You can buy all the school supplies that your children need
while many you know cannot afford to send their children to
school.
It would be easier not to live so close to those in need—not
to be pierced by their desperate need. Do I keep my children
from having friends among the poor to shield myself from the
pain their need causes me?
How do I live among those who do not have their daily bread?
Is it the Lord who did not provide or is it man who snatched
the bread that was meant for his brother from his brother’s
mouth? How long will we Christians who are full be satisfied
while our brothers and sisters go hungry? I know, Lord, that
You care for my friends who are poor more than I do. I know
that I must place them in Your hands for I cannot meet their
needs. I know also that Your tears flow more steadily than mine
when You consider their condition. I know too that You do provide
for the poor in ways that I cannot understand, but that does
not release me from my responsibility to share with those in
need. You have said clearly in 1 Timothy 6:17-18: “Command
those who are rich in this present world to do good, to be rich
in good deeds and to be generous and to be willing to share.”
How long, Lord, before we your church wake up and meet the suffering
of our brothers and sisters?
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond
all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within
us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all
generations forever and ever. Amen.
Phil 3:20-21
Elizabeth and Dan Turk
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
344 |
