Where Do We Go From Here?
This is something I wrote the Friday before our Thanksgiving break - the last day of our social justice week at our high school. I didn't get a chance to post it at that time because I was busy with parent-teacher conferences and traveling to Michigan to visit my family for Thanksgiving, but I figured it's better late than never:Today has been filled with listening, watching, feeling, praying and more listening. Listening for God's voice amidst the brokenness of the world. Praying for the millions of people around the world that suffer all sorts of injustices everyday. Praying for my eyes and heart to be opened to what God wants me to do in response to all I've seen and heard. Feeling the pain from innocent voices. Watching a glimpse of the life they live everyday.
Where do I go from here? Where do my students go from here?
There are times when the sheer amount of injustices seems insurrmountable: "What can one person do to change all the bad in the world? What can I do? How can I make a difference? CAN I make a difference? If so...how? Where do I even begin?"
It seems so ironic that we had this whole week concentrating on openining our eyes to the injustices in the world - seeing how little people have; seeing how people are so badly mistreated; experiencing the life of a child that may not live to see another day...and then we go to our cozy homes and celebrate Thanksgiving with our families and friends who love us over abundant meals with way more food than we need. Does that seem ironic to you? I feel jolted by that contradiction and find myself struggling with how to deal with two very different worlds. This conversation, to me, is a continued conversation from my time in Guatemala the past two summers. I find myself with more questions and very few answers. I find myself questioning the church - asking myself how much we are really doing to fight against these injustices. To fight against poverty, against child prostitution and child soldiers, against hunger, against judgment of people who look and/or act differently from us...
I never finished writing out my thoughts that day, but the conversation continues in my thoughts and in the halls of our school. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving and fully enjoyed the bountiful food that was before me...I have been blessed in immeasurable ways and it's hard at times for me to find the balance of being fully thankful for what I have and the ways in which I have been blessed by living in the United States, yet also realizing that there are millions of people around the world that would be happy picking from the bones of our turkey and knowing that I am called to care for these people, too, in the small ways that one person can.
I never finished writing out my thoughts that day, but the conversation continues in my thoughts and in the halls of our school. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving and fully enjoyed the bountiful food that was before me...I have been blessed in immeasurable ways and it's hard at times for me to find the balance of being fully thankful for what I have and the ways in which I have been blessed by living in the United States, yet also realizing that there are millions of people around the world that would be happy picking from the bones of our turkey and knowing that I am called to care for these people, too, in the small ways that one person can.
Lord,
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
~"Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath~
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
~"Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath~
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 at 8:59 PM.
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Oh Shelly. You will make an impact, and you already have. I'm excited to watch what the Lord has for your beautiful bleeding heart. I feel you sister. Keep asking God to direct your emotions, He will show you what to do with them.
Shelly-
I had such similar wonderings as I celebrated Thanksgiving at home in MI, and thought of my home here too...there is such contrast and I often don't know what to do with it. I'm encouraged that there are others sorting through these things, and most importantly, praying for peace and justice...
Much love!
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