Compassion for Haiti

I woke up to the radio yesterday with the news of the earthquake in Haiti... Yikes... News of the poorest country in the western hemisphere being hit so hard is tough... My heart has been heavy...

I've heard of two separate instances where friends of friends had just left Haiti, in one case the day before the earthquake hit returning from working in an orphanage... in another, 90 minutes before it hit returning from a medical relief trip... too many were not so lucky... they weren't flying off to safe distant lands, but were hit... HARD.

As I write in my warm and comfy home, contemplating going to bed early or getting a bit of work done... CBC news today reported the Red Cross estimating 50,000 dead... others are reporting 100,000 dead... Emergency aid from around the world is arriving, struggling to bring supplies as devastation is all-around and search and rescue efforts continue.

We may not all be able to mobilize and hit the ground to help in person as friends' of ours have done... but we can all take some time to pray for the hurting people, for the search and rescue efforts, for the protection of all and for aid and supplies to get to those who need it most.

"Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God.

Do not forget the helpless."

Psalm 10:12

We must also take a minute to donate to help get more aid and supplies on the ground. My inbox and Facebook are inundated with organizations pleading for help and donations to further their work where they have already been established for several years... Compassion, Canadian Red Cross, Power to Change, and World Vision... No matter where you choose to donate, lets work together to get aid on the ground to those who are so desperate for our help... here's a bit more info on one of these organizations for your info...

World Vision in Haiti...

World Vision is on the ground right now in the Haitian city of Port-Au-Prince, helping families and children devastated by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake Tuesday afternoon. Your donations are vital to the relief efforts and are needed today. Every dollar makes a difference and now if you give a donation to the Haiti Earthquake victims through World Vision, by February 12th, it will double in impact due to a generous contribution from the Canadian Government.

With an international response team flying in from around the globe to assist, our relief efforts are underway. World Vision Haiti is now distributing emergency supplies to families and children struggling to deal with this catastrophic disaster. World Vision has been working in Haiti for over 30 years, helping an estimate 300,000 Haitians each year to overcome poverty through providing access to education, improved access to food and clean water and improved nutrition as well as helping families with improved medical care.

Now, more than ever, your help is needed to help families in Haiti and let them know they are not alone in this emergency. Click here to donate now.

A world of hurt

The past year, my senses have truly been heightened to those hurting all around me... close by and abroad... Friends living far from family, unable to return to their home country where they would be persecuted for their faith in Christ... friends with struggling marriages... some facing nasty custody battles and endless legal proceedings and false accusations... too many walking with loved ones through their fight with cancer... friends struck suddenly with inexplicable illnesses that have momentarily and at times permanently rocked their worlds... others struggling with infertility... husbands working far from home... then news of a baby girl (seemingly barely 1 from the photos) battling with stage 4 cancer... and reading the stories of some of the children members of my church's mission trip to Cambodia are encountering...

I have also recently been introduced to the International Justice Mission and have just read a book called "Terrify No More" which tells of their work in Cambodia and around the world to free and seek justice for victims of sex-trafficking and of bonded labour, etc. I'm also finishing a book called "One - A face behind the numbers" where Vaden Earle from Absolute Leadership Development brings to light the injustice that so many in the world face and our need for us to step up, become aware and take action!

All of this has led me to one main response... Why am I so blessed Lord? I have a loving and faithful husband, healthy beautiful children, a lovely spacious home, a tight-knit loving extended family, caring friends and a wonderful church community. We are blessed beyond belief. As I sat the other night praying for those hurting around me and wondering why we are continually blessed, the answer that came was this...

We are blessed so that we may bless others.

We can't respond to others' stories with the fear of illness, injury or accidents striking our family. That response keeps my eyes on me. It's selfish and a useless waste of energy and emotion - though I sometimes have to remind myself. No, I really believe that we are blessed so that we can bless others with our time, our resources, our friendships and our prayers.

I wrote about my desire to teach my kids about compassion back in October... getting their eyes off their own little lives and desires and to recognize the needs of others around them. I think I am the one who has been learning the lesson more than anyone. It's so easy to get consumed by my own busy life and family, with my only worries being paying the bills at the end of the month, getting my kids through their colds and flus and preparing my 3-year old for school in September.

I have been feeling a new and increasing burden to pray for those who cross my path the past while. You know, it's a funny thing to pray more for others. It takes my eyes off me and my troubles as they arise which seem SO BIG when they're my main focus. But as I look to God and trust Him to act in the lives of others, lifting them up in prayer, it builds my faith to remember that God is a powerful God who will take care of my worries which seem to be nothing at all regardless of how bad my day seems!

I am blessed. As John Waller talks about in his song "The Blessing", I can and will choose to be a blessing!

Doesn't the world revolve around ME?

Well... NO. Two thoughts... First, as kids, we innately seem to have the "me, me, me - mine - I want, I want - NOW" mindset from the start. Though if you (like me) have siblings, reality settles in a bit faster that the world just doesn't work like that... at the very least, you figure it out when you start school... there are in fact other people around and no, its not all about me and my entitlement.

Second thought... we, for the most part, live a life of privilege in North America. I once heard a parent tell the story of their son (living in a beautiful lakefront log home) who at the age of 3 asked a friend: "What lake do you live on?" Doesn't everyone have the same life as me? Why wouldn't a child think that way... unless they're taught (and that boy was sure enlightened that day!)

So, these two thoughts lead me to this... in our highly self-absorbed privileged society, there's a lesson I feel I need to instill in my children... essentially, it's one of compassion... becoming aware of others' needs around us - whether they are poor, sick, oppressed, or just different...

The teachable moments have been quite sporadic in the past years, but seem to be peeking with my oldest daughter these days, and I'm feeling like I've got to seize the moment! We have donated non-perishables to the local food bank and hygienic products and clothes to an inner city church's drop-in center as she's been learning about the needs of others in our community at school and in Sunday school. This will extend nicely into November as I love taking the opportunity to put together a shoe box for Operation Christmas Child - going to the store together to buy NOTHING for us, but only for a child or two in other parts of the world who don't have all that we have... I enjoy watching my daughter thinking about what that child should have, might need, and what might make them happy as we walk down the aisles of the department store. That's been a wonderful experience in the past, though I was so busy with work last year, I totally missed the boat. I'm more on the ball this year!

I also want to make the kids more aware of our sponsored children (one through World Vision and the other through Compassion Canada), reading the letters, writing letters and sending pictures and artwork from the kids... I've ben really slacking on that front... I'd like to put the pictures of the children on our fridge so that we don't so easily forget about them as a family, but rather can begin to pray for them and maybe spark conversations with our kids with a more frequent reminder of those around the world who are less privileged. I think that seeing the faces and drawings of our sponsored children and knowing more about them and where they live (geography lessons while we're at it!) will also make the experience of preparing our Christmas shoe boxes that much more real for them.

There are wonderful opportunities out there to teach our children about compassion. About loving our neighbour (locally and abroad). Recognizing the needs of others and taking action to make a difference. Friends of ours began "Trick or Treat for Hope" which gets the youth in the community involved to collect non-perishables for the local food bank every year at Halloween. There are all kinds of things we can do! I hope to be more intentional about not letting those teachable moments so easily slip by!

At some point, I also want to introduce my children to Craig Kielburger, who at the age of 12 in his home in Canada was hit by the image of a boy on the front page of the newspaper who was in a world of child labour a world away. That sparked a passion in him, and he went to school that day and rallied his friends to care as well. They formed "Free the Children" whose slogan is "children helping children through education". Now in his 20s and a university graduate, he travels as a motivational speaker with his "Be the Change" tour, challenging young people to not sit passively by, but to take action and to make a difference in the world around them.

I think that says it all... "Be the Change". Though my kids may not go on to start international organizations like Craig (though who am I to limit them if they so choose!?), I do want them to learn the importance of loving others and doing what we can to help those in need. Didn't Jesus give us that as as the greatest commandment? LOVE! And what is love if it isn't followed by action?

The slogans for these various organizations are quite powerful...

"The power of a simple gift" - Operation Christmas Child by Samaritan's Purse

"Change a life, Change your own" - World Vision

"Releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name" - Compassion Canada

"Be the change" - Free the children

All of these are calling for us to take action! I also love this quote from Helen Keller (who was blind and deaf) "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."

No, it's not all about me... An important lesson to learn (and more importantly to remember!) It's all too natural for me to have my selfish tendencies creep in at a moment's notice... to become absorbed in my own little fast-paced North-American life and my own "little" problems and forget altogether about the needs of those around us... As a teacher, I've always found that I learn best when I have to teach something... maybe that's what I'm hoping for as I long to be more intentional about teaching my children about compassion. BE the change, what a revolutionary concept.