For months, my heart has felt as if could explode at any minute. It isn’t a physical pain. But an emotional one. A spiritual one. Over and again, I find myself slapped in the face with images of people who are hungry and waiting for fragments of a life I would carelessly walk by.
Earlier today, I wrote about CNN’s story of Myanmar refugees living in dumps. As I read the story it hit me. Anger. Shame. Grief. Fear. Helplessness. Question. Pause. Hope. Inspiration.
I have an idea.
My husband knows that he has to be very careful about what he says around me. With the slightest provocation, I would quickly pack my bags and move to a third world country. However, as much as my heart would love to, I can’t pull up my roots and head overseas. Not right now, mid-stream in an adoption.
But I can begin by making a difference in the community in which I live. And I believe that together we can all start a revolution of change. An awakening of selflessness. A movement of hope.
Stay tuned for more info…
Maybe Myanmar is too far away. But what about right next door? Do we want to stir up our comfortable ways and get involved? Can we begin small? Can we learn to become more selfless? I think we can.
Hmm…sounds like neighborliness to me.
Sounds like a great idea Ellen. Look forward to participating. God knows I need to become more selfless.
What a great idea! Just last week our next door neighbors invited us over for coffee and cake one night. Accepting the invitation meant disturbing our nightly routine but we decided to go with it. Our neighbors are much older and I wasn’t sure what conversation we might have. The evening turned out to be wonderful!. We didn’t walk back to our house until after 9 pm. We have been over there for over 2 hours. It was absolutely delightful and we wonder why it took five years to do this. I think that sometimes we are typecast by people as fanatics and others are hesitant to mix and mingle with us. It’s as though others think that we are regular people or that all we talk about is God. I believe that one night will do more to show another side of us “religious” people. That is the beginning of a neighborhood network that Bill and I intend to enlarge.