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Friday, July 27, 2007

Apathy vs. Hope

I've been thinking a lot the past while... and yesterday's daily readings was just another huge reminder for me --> James 1: 27 "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."

wow...boy do i feel worked up... i dont' think iv'e ever felt this worked up about apathy before... i think it just hit me so hard what our society is like...

hahaha get ready for a huge long rant...

so... i've never been like a huge social justice person... like for the past few years, i'ld do my share in donating to good causes... but i defintiely would never be the first one to raise up my hand to give sandwiches to the homeless downtown... i think i was being apathetic in my own way... bad bad... but now, more and more, i feel the knudging of God in my heart to go out and help... do proactive things... dont' just sit there and live in my comfortable upper-middle class lifestyle... take a look around, and smell the pain in the world...

people say... "why should I donate to help people in need? It doesn't make a difference anyways. There's no way that anything anyone can do will change the fact that people die to poverty, AIDs, and starvation in 3rd world countries... I should use my money for other things with more purpose in them"

people say... "I know that global warming is a huge thing these days... it's always on the news... I'm not part of the government...i don't make or change pollution policies...the way i live life is fine just the way it is"

people say... "the world that you see is so ideal and perfect and it will never come into existence why do u even bother? I can't possibly get everyone around me to change and see things the way you do... so what's the point? Things aren't goin to get better."

people say... "if i dont' even take the time to donate to like yonge st mission in DT Toronto, why on earth would i spend money helping other people for which i feel absolutely no emotional connection with, whom i dont' even know, who live in a world that is so different than mine?"

and much much more...

i am trying to see things from your viewpoint... and i've come up with a few conclusions...

1) Time -- I find that people's concept of time is so different... like... for example, sponsoring 1 child will make no differeence because even if i sponser that one child, at the samet ime, there are tonz of people have so many babies all with no future... what's the point? It doenst' stop the probloem... whereas for me... true, u sponser one kid and meanwhile the neighbour down the "hut" could be giving birth to so many kids... BUT... u enable that one kid to have food, to have an education... to be able to have a higher chance of banking a stable job because they have acquired skills via education... you help them influence those people around them in their own community to have hope and persevere to have a better life... you can hope and pray that the future children of the child you just sponsored can have a better life too because the kid-become-parent has a better paying job... so... i find many people think of helping each other out lookign for the benefit at a particular point int ime... (say 1 year from now)... so clearly, even tho say you AND your bunch of friends all sponsor 1 kid each... obviously you aren't going to solve world hunger in 1 year... BUT... at the same time, say 50 years from now, in the next generation, you coudl have helped a whole family or community be able to fend for themselves more, be more qualified to get stable jobs, enable the Africa 50 years fromo nwo to have readily available access to birth control pills, condoms...

why is it... that when we dont' see the results of helping others that ti's like a huge barrier that keeps us from helping anyways? Like honestly.. what difference does it make if you cannot visibly see huge earth-moving change withint he span of your five years... heck, even your own lifetime? Do you not feel any obligation or no... tha'ts not the right word... do people not feel like they want to help the world to come 50-60-100 years from now? why do people not realize the mass crap they're invoking on the earth because my country leader refuses to increase the amoutn of energy we want to save, or shut down nuclear plants in lieu of more expensive yet more environemtnally friendly plants?

gosh... i dont' know what to say anymore... at times, i feel so ashamed to have been blessed wtih so much and only such a small portion of my money and prayer times go out to those outside my Waterloo, Richmond Hill, GTA community circles...

newayz...

2) Apathy... people just don't care. We live in a world where we're only out to help ourselves.. we only think of how i can rise the corporate ladder, how i can make my $millions, how i can buy a nicer car, bigger house, more brand name clothes... etc etc... so as you can see, in the midst, of taking all the "right" steps to get there, we totally have no room in my life plan scheudle to even stop and think about helping others taht are much less fortunate than we are.. heck... if anything, we'ld try not tot hink at all about those people... why? cz i've got enougho f my own problems... or what we think are problems... but i think they fail to compare with the problems of our other friends in other parts of the world... yup yup... how often do i hear the "i don't care because it doesn't affect me in any way"

ahhh.... i think more and more, i'm starting to realize how big and loving Jesus' heart really is when He cared for all the orphans, the widows, the social outcasts, the unloved, the sluts and whores.... and u knwo what? Jesus never stopped once to think about..." oh... can i fit that into my schedule? hmmm... how else could I use this $35... ewww... hang out with them? i'ld rather be caught dead than be seen with those poor people" so why are we?

compassion... Even at the foot of the cross... Jesus saw them in their sin and He had compassion on them.. wow... no wonder he's my SAVIOUR and redeemer...

sacrifice... time, money, energy, resources, u name it =)

love... yup yup, we're told to love your neighbour as yourself... well... yeah, the way I show God's love to my well off upper-middle class friend whom i have a close relationship with is way different than the way i show love to my gr 2 little sponsored boy in Indonesia whom I don't know personally at all... or even the 21 year old girl with the same birthday as me... we're similar.. kind of... except she lives in africa in a civilwar torn country...

my neighbour is still my neighbour...

Thank God i can have hope in thse times.. after all, He is the hope of all nations =)

all i can think of is this song... Hope of the Nations

Jesus hope of the nations
Jesus comfort for all who mourn
You are the source of Heaven’s hope on earth
Jesus light in the darkness
Jesus truth in each circumstance
You are the source of Heaven’s light on earth
In history You lived and died You broke the chains You rose to life

You are the hope living in us
You are the rock in whom we trust
You are the light
Shining for all the world to see
You rose from the dead conquering fear
Our Prince of Peace drawing us near
Jesus our hope living for all who will receive
Lord we believe

posted by ~*~VaNeSsA~*~  -- 1:31 p.m. (0) comments

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Mortal Life~

Humans are mortal... usually people live up to 80 or 90 years old... i think today there was a sudden realization that she might be leaving us soon... a rather unnerving thought... the thoughts creep into my mind.. things like, how long... where to move... when to move... am i goin to move out and live with her... will she make it that long... i hope that her health declines at a slow pace... i don't know if i've ever really seen her so sad... tonite at the dinner table, she barely said a word... quite opposite from her usual self... and having my mom tell me that she cried earlier today when the lung specialist told her the news straight up... the whole time at the dinner table, i was thinking... she sounds like she's about to cry... it makes me sad too... it could be 3-5 years... but every person is different... and at any moment, even before that, life could cease... my mom says she plans to pretty much live life up to the fullest now that there's a vague countdown looming in the future...

life is fragile. how are you goin to make yours worthwhile... every second counts. every choice matters. i am accountable to God for every action, every thought.

We live for Him.

posted by ~*~VaNeSsA~*~  -- 7:58 p.m. (0) comments