Some of my deepest thinking happens on Sunday mornings.
Last Sunday in particular I got to thinking because
of a dear woman speaking on stage.
She was telling of visiting Zimbabwe and meeting
a preschool teacher. She herself is also
a preschool teacher and so they were comparing notes.
They do very much the same thing.
There are exceptions, here in the states
they play with balls (provided by the school)
to develop large motor skills.
In Zimbabwe they bring their own balls,
which many times are rags in a plastic bag.
They lack many basic supplies at the Zimbabwe schools.
When asked how many students she has, she replied
that there is a vast difference from before
feeding stations and after they were
established. Feeding stations are locations
where masses of people come to receive food.
Literally hundreds of people come, walking for miles
most of them, just for a hot meal, sometimes
the only meal of the day.
She continued saying that prior to the feeding stations
she had a handful of students and that she
made a point of visiting homes of preschoolers.
Often times she would find children lying
on the floor, listless due to lack of
nutrition.
That is what caught me. I thought of it the rest
of the day. Preschoolers, I have a few here at home
with me everyday. They are near and dear
to my heart. I feed them 3 times a day (minimum),
which adds up to 1095 meals in a year.
Never, not even once have I had to forego a meal for
my children. I have not had to make a choice
of which family members would eat due
to lack of food.
My mind was boggled.
What a hard job those moms have.
Don't get me wrong, there are many days
I think I have the hardest job in all the world, but
in comparison to this, it is easy.
I often feel as if I live in a bubble. I must
confess that I do not watch or even listen
to the news of my local town, or worldwide.
My life here on this hill is simply what goes on
here on the hill, which is made up of a church,
a grocery store, and neighboring home.
Some of the greatest excitement is when the
Medivac helicopter lands in the church parking
lot and the ambulance and firetrucks greet it
with someone needing urgent medial attention.
My bubble burst that Sunday morning and I
was thinking again of the surrounding world.
However, I was troubled.
We speak of being a blessed nation, and we
are. But when we are saying this
are we also saying that other nations are
not blessed?
Does the mother who has a family that
is hungry feel that she is blessed?
Does she still see God work?
I know a handful of friends that were
visiting Zimbabwe and they speak
of simple joy that is indescribable other
than the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do I have such a joy?
I listened to a woman pray this week and
she spoke to God of being a
canvas for His glory.
What a thought.
That is what I am.
That is what every situation that
surfaces is, a canvas for His glory.
I titled my previous post How He Loves
but I meant the thoughts I am now posting to
go with that title.
We sang the song How He Loves after
we heard of the hungry people.
Here are some of my favorite lines in that song.
He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane,
I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His
wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions
eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful
You are and how great Your affections are for me.
If grace is an ocean we're all sinking.
Oh, how He loves, yeah, He loves us
Oh, how He loves us, oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves.
To grasp His love for us,
now there is a delightful thought.
He loves us all differently
but the same. I know that
my amazing God can speak to everyone
and I trust that He does, especially
to these hungry families mentioned
last Sunday.
Alas, I would be remiss if I didn't mention
the happy part to these thoughts.
The preschool is bursting with students
because of
Feed the Need.
This is a program designed for us to
be involved and do something about world
hunger. Our church participated
last year and will do so this year again.
April is when Feed the Need will
be launched again, but this time we will
nearly double the amount of nutritious
meals we will package.
270,000 meals!
You see the reason the story was being
told on stage last Sunday was because the
meals we packaged last year went to
Zimbabwe and are feeding the masses.
Here is a website where you can
learn more if this interests you.
www.helpfeedtheneed.org
I plan on posting more about
this in the near future.
Favorite Thing: being able to provide food for all those who enter my home
and those who may never enter this home across the world
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