...& upon reading about the situation in China is and having my heart shattered, my initial reaction was "I want to help!" These young children so badly need help & want it... in the meantime, I'm in Northern Ireland, relaxing on the sofa, drinking tea & munching on granola at my desire. I am doing nothing to help & that's not fair to those children.
You see, for the time being I am involved in youth work, & youth work entails helping young people who don't necessarily want to be helped. And so my heart leaps at the thought of helping children who would be totally appreciative of it, who would jump for a hug & never let go. I don't always feel like I'm making any difference in anybody's life here in Northern Ireland. In Sichuan, the immediate benefits of my love would be visible to me.
However, this thought led me to the conclusion that I've been placed in Northern Ireland at this time for a reason! God needs me to do something here and now. If He wanted me to help the young children orphaned by the earthquake in China, He would have me there. In fact, He has my sister there at the moment. We are all meant to be somewhere at the right time. If we can't be in China, we can still make a difference right where we are. I can't be in China, but I am in Dromore, and thus my efforts to love here should be 200%.
1 comment:
Here's something to chew on:
We are called to be fishers of men. That means going to the pond and fishing (my word choice is limited because of where I'm at, but you know what I'm referring to).
Sometimes, we need to make a path to get to that pond. We need to cut down trees and weed whack and pull the boats through a really dense forest before we can get to the pond that is overstocked with all these fish.
It can be hard when nobody else has made that path yet. If we are the ones making the very first path, it can be frustrating, because it takes a really long time to get to the pond. Sometimes we never see the pond. Sometimes, we are the ones finding the way for the people who are called to come after us. We sometimes get the sole job of cutting down the trees and clearing the brush and whacking the weeds and pulling the boats through, etc.
When those are our jobs, we need to remember that everything that we do is a step of progress, and none of it is in vain. There will be people coming through after us to fish in that pond, and we have made the path so much easier for them to get through. We cleared the way for them so that they can start fishing right away. We were still a part in the big plan.
Where you're at, I think alot of times you are helping to drag the boats through to get to the pond. You reach it sometimes, and other times you are dragging the boats there for other people to use eventually. Sometimes the boats get stuck in an uncleared part of the path and you need to clear some more before you can reach the pond.
Where I'm at, I think so many people have been before me that the pond is very easy to get to at times. I find my way there, and the questions just come flying towards me. The fish here are very inquisitive and they want to know everything. That's because of people in your situation who have gone ahead of me and done all the work to clear the way through the woods and drag a boat to the pond before me.
(words I heard from one of the other volunteers here, not from me)
I love you.
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