Poverty in the 'hood'???
I've often assumed that if the houses in my neighbourhood are selling, people must have the means to buy them; if everyone looks fine on the outside (yes, I was that naive and blind) they must be doing all right; and if what I call high-end supermarkets are popping up in my area, then there must be a market for it.
But then, I noticed other things, like:
- I heard from a friend who was tutoring some kids in my neighbourhood that sometimes multiple families live in those big houses in the hood
- I started noticing also more lower end supermarkets in the hood
- I noticed many private and government assistance agencies in the hood
- I heard from other parents that the region where I live has actually seen a rise in the rate of children and families living under the poverty line
And so, I began to get curious and started researching. And I was shocked at the statistics. You mean, potentially, some of my neighbours might be struggling financially???
Before you say anything else, I know...statistics are statistics and they are not perfect. I also know I'm using the term 'poverty' here very liberally. The politically correct term might be 'lower income households'.
Regardless....my point is this.
I had ASSUMED everything is hunky dory in my hood - and that in order to 'serve the poor' I had to at LEAST go downtown, if not to a foreign country.
If anything, lately I had embraced a dangerous self-pity attitude. Yes, me. With all the blessings I do have, deep inside, when it was just me and no one else was watching....there was a spirit of resentment, jealousy and self pity: "I wished I could have more"
Yes, these lower income families and children might still live a 'luxurious' life compared to the very marginalized and poor in the world. I am not ignoring that fact. But I also have to remember: these people live in an expensive country, and are struggling. In their world, they might struggle to put fresh vegetables on the table every day. They might not be able to afford to buy a Christmas gift for their children. Thinking of going to the local Boston Pizza would be unheard of. Signing their kids up for piano, swimming or dance? Forget it. They are just trying to pay the rent, have food on the table, and have a job - whatever that may be.
And...in my region at least....I realized these people may "LOOK" on the outside exactly like me. Many are university educated families. Many are immigrants.
I don't know about you - but this is enough to cause me to pause and think. GOD IS TALKING.
And then I thought of my life as a young child in Peru. As a child I never saw my family as a well-off family. If anything, I always thought we were 'poor'. And to a certain extend, that was true. There was a time I remember when mom had literally ran out of money to pay for my tuition and had to ask friends to loan us money. Going out to have a coke for the 4 of us was a treat.
But in later years, God had blessed us and my parents were much better off.
I realized....in the eyes of some of my friends, my family WAS well off. We had a beautiful house, we went overseas (though not every year, at least we went. Many of my friends didn't even have a passport), we had a car, my dad had a business....
I never thought about life from THEIR perspective. And now I wonder....how did they feel when they were around me? I was living life ASSUMING everyone had what I had, if not more. Did my actions ever put them in a difficult position? Did we ever make them uncomfortable?
And then, I wonder back to what happened at our last school council meeting. We were talking about the amazing results of our pizza lunch fundraiser. We sat and we talked about how we should use these funds to improve our students' well being: more technology tools, more sports equipment, assist in environmentally driven projects, musical instruments...and the list went on.
And then I went home and wrestle. It was so 'easy' for less than 500 students to 'raise' so much money. And yes, I do want and agree that it has to be spent on the students! But on a personal level, I struggled. While we continue to give our kids "more"...there are kids who 'barely" have any. While our kids tell us they don't like this or that lunch/dinner, there are kids who go to school with an empty stomach. While a lot of us spend hours ensuring our kids are educated, well grounded, and developed to their full potential (think of they day care they go to, the schools they are at, all the extra curricular classes they go to or all the 'tools' we get them) there are kids who simply go home after school. I can go on and on.
And even at church, while we talk about helping those far away....have we neglected those closest to us and turned a blind eye to those next to us? Or, does it hurt too much to accept that we live amongst them? I am even thinking now...even people we see every Sunday -- I would not be surprised if someone in the church I go to is struggling financially right now. No, they might not be 'poor' and part of the statistics yet...but does that even matter? They are in need, and we have no clue because we have chosen to assume everything is fine.
Yes, there is of course a lot of people who do have more than I do - but I have dangerously let that cloud my view of this world - life is not about counting what I don't have/can't do/can't buy. I have let that drag me down, sinking deeper and deeper into a life about me, and what I don't have.
I am surrounded by much....there is prosperity all around me. I hear of friends and families graduating from university (and we don't even think about it because it's a 'given'), people getting a bonus or promotion at work, changing their cars to a newer one, going on a family vacation, trying out the newest restaurant in the neighbourhood, trying out an art class...
Do I really realize how much I have?
...apparently I don't...until God shook my world and I suddenly see it differently.
I don't know where this will end up taking me - but I do have a sense God is orchestrating all these seemingly unrelated events and observations to call people like me to first, open my eyes and continue to see the work He still needs and desperately wants to do inside me, and the purposes He has for me in this life.
I might volunteer at a soup kitchen, or I might not....but I believe it's when God speaks like this, on a daily basis, that we in turn continue to change. From the inside out.
My self pity reveals something deeper that needs to be given to the Lord - completely....daily.
My view of the world around me needs to be clear and true - no invented myths and no assumptions. Go find out. Talk to people. Read. Be involved. Whatever it takes. I am the first one to admit I know very little about poverty - though in my lifetime, in hindsight, God has put me in places where I could have learned a lot more.
My parenting decisions need to continuously be surrendered to the Lord. When to give, when to withhold, when to praise and when to push, when to show and when to protect, when to enjoy and when to sacrifice. God has an amazing plan for each of my kids - and it's not so much about me finding out what my kid's potentials are, but more about finding out from God what HE has planned for them and what my role as a parent is in all of that.
No, I'm not saying we all have to sell everything we have and live in misery. I don't believe God does that. But I do believe God sometimes must be disappointed at either my incessant desire for more, my insensitivities to the needs of our neighbours and my choice to be blind to care for others...
Right now..it's not about God wanting me to "do" more...but instead, in a way, let those who have less teach me. It's about God wanting me to change from the inside out -- because without that change, anything I "do" will be in vain....
I need to open my eyes to see....and let that impact every single thing I am already doing daily -- how will this 'seeing' change the way I drive in the neighbourhood, the way I talk about my neighbours, the way I explain people's needs to my kids, the decisions I make when I 'want more', the comments I make when I talk with other parents in the school, when I complain that my fridge is making a noise and the repair guy didn't do a 'good enough' job fixing it, when my internet is 'slow', when my iphone doesn't do what I 'need' it to do...........
Open your eyes - and - gain perspective.......let God continue changing you from the inside out. Learn to love and care........
But then, I noticed other things, like:
- I heard from a friend who was tutoring some kids in my neighbourhood that sometimes multiple families live in those big houses in the hood
- I started noticing also more lower end supermarkets in the hood
- I noticed many private and government assistance agencies in the hood
- I heard from other parents that the region where I live has actually seen a rise in the rate of children and families living under the poverty line
And so, I began to get curious and started researching. And I was shocked at the statistics. You mean, potentially, some of my neighbours might be struggling financially???
Before you say anything else, I know...statistics are statistics and they are not perfect. I also know I'm using the term 'poverty' here very liberally. The politically correct term might be 'lower income households'.
Regardless....my point is this.
I had ASSUMED everything is hunky dory in my hood - and that in order to 'serve the poor' I had to at LEAST go downtown, if not to a foreign country.
If anything, lately I had embraced a dangerous self-pity attitude. Yes, me. With all the blessings I do have, deep inside, when it was just me and no one else was watching....there was a spirit of resentment, jealousy and self pity: "I wished I could have more"
Yes, these lower income families and children might still live a 'luxurious' life compared to the very marginalized and poor in the world. I am not ignoring that fact. But I also have to remember: these people live in an expensive country, and are struggling. In their world, they might struggle to put fresh vegetables on the table every day. They might not be able to afford to buy a Christmas gift for their children. Thinking of going to the local Boston Pizza would be unheard of. Signing their kids up for piano, swimming or dance? Forget it. They are just trying to pay the rent, have food on the table, and have a job - whatever that may be.
And...in my region at least....I realized these people may "LOOK" on the outside exactly like me. Many are university educated families. Many are immigrants.
I don't know about you - but this is enough to cause me to pause and think. GOD IS TALKING.
And then I thought of my life as a young child in Peru. As a child I never saw my family as a well-off family. If anything, I always thought we were 'poor'. And to a certain extend, that was true. There was a time I remember when mom had literally ran out of money to pay for my tuition and had to ask friends to loan us money. Going out to have a coke for the 4 of us was a treat.
But in later years, God had blessed us and my parents were much better off.
I realized....in the eyes of some of my friends, my family WAS well off. We had a beautiful house, we went overseas (though not every year, at least we went. Many of my friends didn't even have a passport), we had a car, my dad had a business....
I never thought about life from THEIR perspective. And now I wonder....how did they feel when they were around me? I was living life ASSUMING everyone had what I had, if not more. Did my actions ever put them in a difficult position? Did we ever make them uncomfortable?
And then, I wonder back to what happened at our last school council meeting. We were talking about the amazing results of our pizza lunch fundraiser. We sat and we talked about how we should use these funds to improve our students' well being: more technology tools, more sports equipment, assist in environmentally driven projects, musical instruments...and the list went on.
And then I went home and wrestle. It was so 'easy' for less than 500 students to 'raise' so much money. And yes, I do want and agree that it has to be spent on the students! But on a personal level, I struggled. While we continue to give our kids "more"...there are kids who 'barely" have any. While our kids tell us they don't like this or that lunch/dinner, there are kids who go to school with an empty stomach. While a lot of us spend hours ensuring our kids are educated, well grounded, and developed to their full potential (think of they day care they go to, the schools they are at, all the extra curricular classes they go to or all the 'tools' we get them) there are kids who simply go home after school. I can go on and on.
And even at church, while we talk about helping those far away....have we neglected those closest to us and turned a blind eye to those next to us? Or, does it hurt too much to accept that we live amongst them? I am even thinking now...even people we see every Sunday -- I would not be surprised if someone in the church I go to is struggling financially right now. No, they might not be 'poor' and part of the statistics yet...but does that even matter? They are in need, and we have no clue because we have chosen to assume everything is fine.
Yes, there is of course a lot of people who do have more than I do - but I have dangerously let that cloud my view of this world - life is not about counting what I don't have/can't do/can't buy. I have let that drag me down, sinking deeper and deeper into a life about me, and what I don't have.
I am surrounded by much....there is prosperity all around me. I hear of friends and families graduating from university (and we don't even think about it because it's a 'given'), people getting a bonus or promotion at work, changing their cars to a newer one, going on a family vacation, trying out the newest restaurant in the neighbourhood, trying out an art class...
Do I really realize how much I have?
...apparently I don't...until God shook my world and I suddenly see it differently.
I don't know where this will end up taking me - but I do have a sense God is orchestrating all these seemingly unrelated events and observations to call people like me to first, open my eyes and continue to see the work He still needs and desperately wants to do inside me, and the purposes He has for me in this life.
I might volunteer at a soup kitchen, or I might not....but I believe it's when God speaks like this, on a daily basis, that we in turn continue to change. From the inside out.
My self pity reveals something deeper that needs to be given to the Lord - completely....daily.
My view of the world around me needs to be clear and true - no invented myths and no assumptions. Go find out. Talk to people. Read. Be involved. Whatever it takes. I am the first one to admit I know very little about poverty - though in my lifetime, in hindsight, God has put me in places where I could have learned a lot more.
My parenting decisions need to continuously be surrendered to the Lord. When to give, when to withhold, when to praise and when to push, when to show and when to protect, when to enjoy and when to sacrifice. God has an amazing plan for each of my kids - and it's not so much about me finding out what my kid's potentials are, but more about finding out from God what HE has planned for them and what my role as a parent is in all of that.
No, I'm not saying we all have to sell everything we have and live in misery. I don't believe God does that. But I do believe God sometimes must be disappointed at either my incessant desire for more, my insensitivities to the needs of our neighbours and my choice to be blind to care for others...
Right now..it's not about God wanting me to "do" more...but instead, in a way, let those who have less teach me. It's about God wanting me to change from the inside out -- because without that change, anything I "do" will be in vain....
I need to open my eyes to see....and let that impact every single thing I am already doing daily -- how will this 'seeing' change the way I drive in the neighbourhood, the way I talk about my neighbours, the way I explain people's needs to my kids, the decisions I make when I 'want more', the comments I make when I talk with other parents in the school, when I complain that my fridge is making a noise and the repair guy didn't do a 'good enough' job fixing it, when my internet is 'slow', when my iphone doesn't do what I 'need' it to do...........
Open your eyes - and - gain perspective.......let God continue changing you from the inside out. Learn to love and care........
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