Friday, January 15, 2010

A Bigger World

I am making the conscious effort to put aside my own challenges today to focus on the earthquake victims in Haiti. Whenever I start reflecting on my own concerns, I want to transcend that level by switching those thoughts toward prayer and good will to the countless others truly suffering. I am very guilty of focusing and dwelling on myself and my little life and situation. It is hard to step out of our zone and go outside of ourselves, especially when life is pretty challenging. But there is a bigger picture and a bigger world. And today I think that the others living on an Island nation far away from my reality need and deserve some of my energy and prayer.

Today I am grateful for:

1. Warm shelter
2. Running water
3. Plumbing
4. Living in a safe community
5. Food in the pantry even if it is a lot of mac & cheese and peanut butter & jelly

6 comments:

  1. Their situation is very upsetting to me too, but it reinforces all I have to be grateful for. What I have might not seem like much to my friends that are living on nice pensions and "Cadillac" health care programs, but like you, I have a warm home, a car, and enough food to get through this month. It is a good thing to be reminded, every now and then, that life may not be all that we want, but it is still good.

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  2. Jude - You say it perfectly. In our day-to- day lives, it can be hard when we compare ourselves to our friends who have it better. But then a tragedy like this comes along and we can see the extreme disparity that can truly exist. I hate that it takes the misfortunes of others to sometimes accomplish this. We should be conscious of this all the time, but I guess we are only human.

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  3. Beautifully put ... Amen!

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  4. Being in FL we have a huge Haitian community. We work with them daily, see them in our schools and stores. We live with them side by side. They have so little as it is and come here to make a better life. The majority of them have massive amounts of family still in Haiti. The effort to send funding and supplies here is also big and I only wish I could give to them.
    I am so grateful that I have a roof over my head at night and live in a place that has decent infrastructure were anything devastating to happen here. I will volunteer as needed and if asked. We have locally just been notified that we, as a county, are on standby to take in survivors that will be flown here to our area. I may not have money to give but I will give as much time as I can.

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  5. I, too, wish there was more I could do monetarily. But I sincerely believe that prayer matters and counts for something. And I also believe that we can make an impact in small ways. I'm talking to the boys and Sam about the disaster. This might result in some fund raising efforts at the boys' school and at Sam's store.

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  6. That's a great idea! Fund raising makes everyone involved feel uselful.
    NEVER underestimate the power of prayer. I truly believe it can move mountains!!

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