I have been thinking of this phrase from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (Christmas) “is a time of year when want is keenly felt and abundance rejoices.” When was the last time our abundance has rejoiced. What I am trying to say is when was the last time we gave out of all that we have.
Last night I was watching a television program and a commercial came on where someone took a hammer and destroyed a bunch of fresh watermelons. I got really angry. Are we that self-centered that we can take food and just destroy it to sell something when we know there are people out on the streets that are starving.
It’s getting bitter cold outside, and I cannot imagine what it would be like to live on the streets. I am glad and grateful that it is not something that I have to do. But there are some out there every night, struggling to survive.
Jesus said “Whatever you do for the least of people that you do for me.” What have any of us done for the suffering poor of late? What have we done for “the least?” I think giving money is great, but are we called to more than that? Are we called to do something that takes action as well as money?
Jesus was poor. Yes people took care of during his ministry, but he was poor. He himself said that “he had no where to lay his head.” His parents were poor. If they were rich someone would have made room for a pregnant woman that was about to give birth. Jesus understood poverty. Do we understand what it is to be without the basics. If we don’t we should and we should be out to help.
Now what can we do? We can be aware of the poor. If we see someone begging on the street, offer to buy him or her a burger or something. If we have useful old clothes make sure they go someplace where the clothing will be given away. I have a friend that goes into a city and with a bag of new socks and gives them to those that are out on the street as the feet are the hardest to keep warm. He doesn’t tell anyone, he just goes. Listen to your hearts this Christmas season and give out of your abundance. Almost everyone who is reading this on a computer in their own homes has an abundance to give from. We waste a lot on things we don’t need. We waste food for advertising insurance. This breaks my heart. I can’t and won’t try to change society, but I can change me. It’s time to go where Jesus would go and it is time to do what he would do.