Day 5

Hunger- Thirst-Malnourishment-Depression-Disease-Alcholism-Hopelessness-Tears-Bankruptcy-Sorrow-Loneliness-Destruction-War-Orphans-Abuse-Widows-Pain-Death.....

...This is our world. This is reality. This is now. It is everywhere. It's in the countries far away. It's in our neighborhoods. Maybe even in our own homes. Need is all around us. When you begin to open your eyes, and more importantly, your heart, you can not look away from need.
The wall that we put up around our hearts, to protect ourselves, has to come down. This is hard. Very hard to watch people dying of hunger when we have plenty. It's hard to recognize the pain of your brother, your friend, your neighbor, it's inconvienent. Hard to know that we can't fix it all right now, right quick.

Knowing is the first step, and the breaking of heart must come before change can begin.

The definition of compassion is: "a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering." This pain we feel, when we begin to see all the ugly realities of the world, is the moment when we decide to look to the heavens and blame God for this mess, to disregard their pain, to look away, or we choose to take His hand and his hope, and become his hand and his hope. This is when beauty evolves from the pain. One by one, a child Sponsored, a child loved, a person fed, the AIDS patient cared for, a soul saved, evolves into a man feeding, a woman saving.....

........-Healing-Nourished-Loved-Peace-Hope-Friendship-Restoration-Laughter-Salvation-Quenched-Happiness-Relationship-Purpose-......

.....Love has a ripple effect. Jesus multiplies our offerings.

~Real change takes time, and takes a lot of people. Our world changes with each generation, and for this reason I believe that we need to raise our children to be compassionate children. They need to grow up caring about others around them. They need to be giving, they need to be loving, and kind. They are the unfolding pages and the continued story of our lives. What will they say, what will they do, and what are we teaching them?

~ "What most inspires a child to grow up caring about others is the caring that the child receives. That nurturing is itself a perfect role model for children." (read all here)

~Here are some practical ways to teach our children here in America to become compassionate adults:

*Read them the bible. Tell them how God wants them to love and help others.

*Be a model to them. Be kind to others, talk well about others, and let them see you routinely helping others.

*Read them books about different cultures, and treating others kindly.

*Teach them that it is important to eat a healthy, and well rounded diet in order to grow well, and stay healthy. This way they will understand why not having enough of good food and water is a need.

*Encourage a friendship with a child from another country.

*Involve them in giving. Give to your local needs, give to your church, have them pick out fabric for quilts for orphans, and buy presents for under priveldged children at Christmas time.

*Help them learn about other areas of the world.

*Show them this map:


The colors represent the areas of hunger.
Red = greater than 35% of population
Orange= 25-30% of the population
Light orange= 5-20%
Yellow= less than 5%

~There are so many needs of this world, but there are also so many of us.