Someone Elses Child

There is a common saying amongst parents of children lost in war, or when their children are overseas fighting that states "It can't always be someone else's son." We get worked up about the other parents that are hoping against any decision their child might make to join the military and fight. We will get so frustrated, thinking "do they know who I am?! Do they remember who they are saying this to?" And so, in that respect this little tension begins, sometimes it is forgotten, sometimes it is not. But, the saying still goes "It can't always be someone else's son." And it usually only applies to war, but I thought about this in a different light today. And the light I found it under was that of global justice and compassion.

There is this tendency when it comes to giving of gifts or sharing with the impoverished that looks almost familial to the previous statement above. We don't usually voice it though, because if we did we would clearly show our lack of compassion, and we want to keep that face as pristine as possible. Even if it is fake. However, in our hearts and minds, we know our thought when we see people in poverty on the street, we think that someone else will give them money. Or someone else will reach out, it can't always be us. My one question is when was giving ever given a limit? And who decides who gets to give and when someone else will? If we all have this in the back of our minds, I am thinking that more often then not nobody is giving anything up.

So, in a sense we are saying "It can't always be my paycheck", or "it can't always be this time around when I am in the city", or "I only have enough for me, and two dollars would be lame so I won't give at all...just walk by fast and not make eye contact...then you don't have to feel so bad". And so it goes from Christian society to secular society, and the world continues to collapse into hardened attitudes and deeper poverty (monetarily and emotionally). I may be a bit dreamer-esque in my writing tonight, trying to find the cure to this white-elephant-in-the-room issue...but clearly if this issue has been brought up so much, we aren't listening.

I think the most frustrating this is when it is in your own family of circle of people. Your heart can burn for the world at large around you, you see needs and you know the help is out there...but nobody else seems to see it the way you do. Especially family, and they usually think you are unreasonable to want to not always care to live completely secure financially, that you want so much to help alleviate issues that you see can at least for the moment be dulled. It is doubly hard if they are Christians and desire your comfortable lifestyle, going up against a lot of what that titled of Christian constitutes. I have found that harder lately, when my heart grows burdensome for the homeless, the poor, or even just people in need emotionally and spiritually around me that if I attempt at anything to help, many people see it as reckless and clearly some 24-year-old doesn't know how to handle money or make proper choices. These voices in my ears keep conflicting with the Scripture in my eyes. This is where the true test begins. God's Word over man's mad attempt at controlling it all and knowing it all. It's enticing to pursue the comfort of everything reasonable. But the pursuit clashes with what is expected in terms of obedience. Christ never had it comfortable, his disciples surely never had it comfortable, and Foxes Book of Martyrs would tell you otherwise as well. A Cross that is to be picked up daily is never comfortable. It is heavy, it causes splinters to dig into your skin, it causes fatigue, and that is all just the figurative. In reality, our crosses we bear are not meant to be just a statement to help us sound more righteous...they actually do cause discomfort. We shouldn't be surprised. The Cross is to be counted as joy, the things we endure as joy, the decisions we have to make as joy...even if they are against what the rest of the world tells us.

So where do we go from here. Right now, this is a rant coming from a girl who is trying to discern God's voice on this issue against the voices of culture and family members. Who will we listen to? It can't always be someone else, and we should be jumping at the opportunity to share in the wealth of hope we have in Christ, and that means of our pockets and blessings that we hold on too tightly to. May we see people as Christ sees them, and may we be willing to listen when God calls us to care for his people in need. May we learn to be obedient despite the call to rationality.