I have been posting and discussing with some of you lately God's forgotten children (not forgotten by God, of course, but by us). We so often sit on the sidelines because we fear.
"What if it costs money? What if the stories break my heart? What if it costs me my life? What if? What if? What if? Line up enough of these "what ifs" and they start to tower over us, placing us...back in the shadows. Well, what if you didn't wake up tomorrow? What if a tornado wiped out your house? What if you were in a terrible accident next week? The "what if" life is a paralyzed life, an imprisoned life." (92)
Another reason we stand-by as injustice reigns is our self-degrading attitude that tells us we have nothing to offer.
"Too often, we sit on the sidelines, waiting for some grand sign from God that we are supposed to get into the game. When that lightening doesn't strike, we shrug our shoulders and think, I guess God doesn't need me here. Meanwhile, as we sit drumming our fingers waiting for that burning-bush experience, people all around the world are crying out for help. Crying out for a miracle. Maybe you don't have something so grand as an answer for their poverty or a cure for their disease. But you can offer them something else, something that is just as much of a miracle: hope" (136) and I would add love. You can offer the love of Christ in it's physical form to someone who is hurting.
"Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."
(Ezekiel 47:12)
I would encourage you to be "a tree planted by the streams of water, who in its proper season, bears fruit" (Psalm 1). Make a choice to bear fruit, and start now.
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