The world we live in celebrates most, especially when it's in bold and italic print. We seem to love celebrities and their houses; we love athletes and their tattoos. The news happens minute by minute, via social media, and still what we read about is effectively a battered line of tragedies and missteps in the pursuit of fame. We get examples of what striving for excess -- the most -- ultimately brings to bear for the pursuers.
But what about least? How do we truly know if someone is hungry or thirsty? Do we set aside even 5 minutes a day to take a look at the world around us and see how it's peopled with characters who lack the basics? Ever thought once of celebrating those who stand for the least?
I haven't really either, especially not in a very authentic way. I worked at a homeless ministry with my 16 year old son last month, and we felt terrific about ourselves when we left that night. Way to go guys!
Since then, besides wondering whether any of the children we fed are still hungry, I've done nothing meaningful about that. Since then I've given nothing, and I'm not talking about money though I've given none of that either. But I sat in church this morning listening to some good verses that I've mostly chosen to ignore about offering genuine help to those who need it, and it came to me that there's a lot of power in the least we're all ignoring, and the leader of the pack of ignorers is me.
My company has budgeted a sizeable amount of money for charitable donations this year. It was my idea, maybe so I can feel nifty about myself. Here's the lousy thing: we can give it to anything, there are no rules around it, yet the problem with that nice generality is we haven't even talked meaningfully about giving it to something. I haven't led anything that's moving. We're just talking about supporting some cause or organization who commits itself to remembering the least who need some help, but we're doing nothing.
That's not right. I'm beginning today a search for something in the Alpharetta, GA area that serves children who do not have enough, and is undersupported. I have no clue what that will bring, but I'm overdue on action. I'm overdue on doing, and I need to get busy. There's work to do.
I'll report back. If you've got ideas, post as comments and I'll approve them and share with everybody.