147 million children with no place to call home and no one to call mommy or daddy is really hard to comprehend. I have a hard enough time keeping things straight between my own six kids. Often times people feel defeated by the overwhelming amount of orphans that exist. I mean, how can one person, or for that matter, even a group of people, really make a difference with so many orphans out there. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say something along the lines of, “with so many orphans, why should I give or help, it’s really not going to make a difference anyways.”
Well, it’s all perspective, and if I view the orphan crisis from a 30,000 foot view, it does look intimidating, if not unchangeable. However, if I look at it in terms of one child, it becomes quite a bit easier to digest and handle. I can wrap my head around one person, or maybe even a few. That I can do. I might not be able to help 147 million children, but I can certainly help one.
This past year, our family has been working on simplifying our lives. We’ve been looking at our spending habits, our budget and ways in which we can eliminate the excess that so often defines the culture of the West. As we’ve honestly examined ourselves, we’ve come to realize we have so much we really don’t need and so much more we could be giving and doing to help the lonely and hurting. Do I really need to spend that extra $9.99 to download that new CD from iTunes? Do we really need to rent another movie for $4.99 from Blockbuster or can we just watch something we already have or something that’s on TV? Do I really have to have that mocha or espresso from Starbucks or Caribou two or three times per week at $4 to $5, instead of making coffee at home? Now I LOVE coffee, but do I really need it that much, every time from Starbucks... Really? I’m not saying that we’ve eliminated every creature-comfort we enjoy, however, we have begun to cut back, and will continue to do so. If we eliminate a few mochas a month, one movie rental, an iTunes download and one dinner out as a family, we can now help save the life of a child, if not two or three.
Mother Teresa put it this way, “It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.” Ouch! That’s quite an indictment on most of us I would assume. And please know, I’m not writing this in condemnation of anyone, I have too much to worry about regarding myself. I just want to encourage all of us to take a moment and see if there are some “wants” in our lives that we are allowing to pose as “needs”. If there are, consider scaling back on a few things each month and truly be the difference between life and death for one of the orphans we serve in China or Swaziland.
On Behalf of the Children,
Kevin
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