What Does Your Faith Show?
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. -- James 1:27
It was simple. I went to a website, read some heartbreaking stories, and selected two seniors to “adopt.” I asked friends and Sunday school class members to help. The result was gifts for our two seniors and extra things for other seniors.
I delivered the items to the local senior center. The directors were nice and helpful. I asked if all the seniors had been adopted. That’s when my eyes got opened to a problem I didn’t realize existed. At least not to this degree. Donations are way off. We took the items to a small office. In past years they used the main room because the items were so plentiful.
The economy is bad. We’ve all heard and experienced that. We just can’t give like we used to. Except the very circumstances that make our financial lives more difficult also negatively impacts the elderly, many of whom live on fixed incomes. How far do you think $694 would go on any given month? Not far enough. And some of them don’t even receive that much.
I know. Few people can afford to give to every worthwhile cause. But how can we neglect our seniors, many of them alone or without people who care? Can’t all of us give a little so that others can receive?
The items the seniors want aren’t fancy phones, expensive clothing or glitzy jewelry. They ask for toilet paper, washing powder, cleaning supplies, food. Basics, you might say. A few asked for other items. One of our adopted seniors asked for a sweater and panties. Did I mention that she’s 90 years old?
It’s too easy to tell ourselves that it is someone else’s problem. It’s too easy to push it off on the church or the government or the family that doesn’t exist or doesn’t care. It’s harder to step up and do what you can to help.
We live in a world where self comes first in all things at all times. We spend our days filled with trappings that don’t matter and items we’ll soon grow tired of. What would it mean to change things up a bit? Actually put others before ourselves? To seek a little less for ourselves and give a little more to others?
In his book The Journey, Adam Hamilton talks about going to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. A woman told Hamilton and the others who’d made the trip how it felt to lose everything. Hamilton told her, “We just want you to know the reason we came was to be a visible sign that God has not forgotten you. We felt God sent us to remind you that God is with you.”
Is God calling you to be that reminder for someone? Faith that lives in our hearts shows itself in our deeds. What is your faith showing the world?
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