Thanks. You're welcome. Thanks.
In my last post, I was kind of a Simplicity Nazi. Perhaps.
I told you we are not doing enough. And we aren't.
While Tim and I were in Guatemala, we helped a team build a bath house for a local Bible Institute. We also visited an elementary school as well as Remar Orphanage.
While I was gone, I couldn't help but feel this absolute sense of urgency.
Urgency.
There are children in an an orphanage right now that need new shoes, y'all.
They need shoes.
I'm not even kidding.
What are we doing about this? Seriously? What are we doing?
More importantly, what are we going to do?
Sigh. It is hard to understand, and it is hard to explain. It's not your fault. Really.
I'm just praying that that sense of urgency sticks around. That it.sticks.around. And that I can convey it to other people, too.
I think, right now, my question is how do we reconcile It All? I'm struggling. Sort of. Really.
One definition of the word reconcile is to make peace. And I loved that. Really.
How do we take the experiences we've had and come back and watch HGTV and shop for new school clothes and make brownies and ride in nice cars and still, for the love of Pete, try to come back and do something good for the rest of the world?
How do we make peace with between the world we've come from and the world we've come back to?
Holy smokes, I am still looking for those answers.
I think one answer lies in knowing what, exactly we've learned.
- We need to stop giving 2 craps about what each other is wearing.
- Everybody is somebody's uncle, son, daughter, sister, neighbor, etc.
- Lots of things in life are universal: soccer balls, giant bubbles, gum, and sidewalk chalk included
- Animal noises are incredibly helpful when trying to overcome a language barrier with kids. Gato? Perro? Vacca? We very well could have “mooed” together for hours and would have been perfectly content.
- Did you read number one?
I think another answer comes with using our time wisely. Yet another struggle I have. Honestly. Seriously. Forever and ever amen.
I waste a lot of time reading blogs. That may sound like a mean thing to say, but it's true. For every “this is making me a better person and helping me pursue other interests” blogs, there are 10 “What I wore/did last weekend/ate for lunch” blogs just waiting in my Google Reader.
I don't know. I came home and did a lot of “unfollowing” and “unsubscribing.”
It was hard. Really. It was. Some of them were blogs I've been reading for years. Good blogs. Nice blogs. Adorable blogs.
But they really aren't making me a better person.
Lots of give aways. Lots of posts looking for sponsors. Random crafts. Fashion. Like I said, GOOD BLOGS.
However, what if, for every random crafty, "what I wore" blog I read, I spent 5 extra minutes doing cardio?
Or reading The Bible? Or calling a friend? Or chatting with Tim? Or volunteering somewhere?
What do you think would happen?
What do I think would happen? Well, I think it would friggin' change my life.
For heaven's sake, here's to hoping it does.
Dear Goodness this has been one long, random strung-along post.
I hope I didn't sound mean, self-righteous, over-the-top, or nonsensical.
Do you ever feel like there are Things You Just Have to Get Down?
Well, this was just one of them...or 7.
Love and back to your regularly scheduled program,
H.
1 comment:
This is a great post. I'm glad you had such a great experience in Guatemala. I just did a post on Friday about my trip to the Srebrenica genocide memorial in Bosnia last month.
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