I have spent hours researching the statistics. They are sobering.
- 925 million people in the world are hungry
- which means 1 in 7 people world wide will go to bed tonight hungry
- 12 million people are STARVING in the horn of Africa
- Hunger is the BIGGEST health problem in the world.
- A child dies every 12 seconds of hunger related causes.
What has truly consumed me in a brand new way, is how little I know personally about being hungry. I have never been hungry for more than a couple of hours. In all honesty, I have never been hungry enough to eat whatever is in the fridge. (How many times have you dug through your refrigerator or pantry and decided that there was "nothing to eat?") I have never had a truly empty refrigerator, pantry, or freezer. I have lived on a tight enough budget that I chose items carefully at the grocery store, but I have never had to live on rice or beans or cereal alone. I have never looked into the eyes of my child and explained to them that we will not eat today. (That one just cuts me to the bone.) I have never spent my whole day searching for food and water for my family. I have never...
In the last week, the plight of the millions of hungry, the hundreds of thousands of starving has entered my heart in a new way. I have chosen to feel their pain at a new more personal level. I have really thought about how it would feel to try and nurse my baby, but be unable because I was starving and know my baby was too. I have considered how it would feel to look into the gaunt, lifeless eyes of my children, knowing I was unable to provide for their most basic of needs - food. I have put myself, with my five children huddled close, in the line waiting for... hoping for food at a refugee camp. I have truly put myself in the shoes of a single parent fully realizing that the only way to spare my son's life was to give him up.
To be honest, I wish I had not. Hunger is more manageable when it is simply statistics.
However, I tend to act in a far more compassionate manner when God gets to my heart. (sigh)
There is one statistic that I find particularly interesting. Did you know that there IS enough food in the world to feed everyone? There is NO REASON that people are starving to death.
I wonder sometimes if God is testing us "haves." If He is waiting to see if we will share all that we have... all He has given. We know about the problem. Will we chose to be a part of the solution? Will we be generous, or selfish? Will we reach out, or turn a blind eye?
We know what He desires. We know what will make Him proud.
But do we care enough about what He thinks to act?
I can not change the whole world, but I can choose to make this day better for a few. I can do what I can do, and trust Him to use my service, my funds, my prayers, my words for His purpose and His glory.
You can too.
