There Is More to Life Than...

I'm something of a learning junkie.  I love to learn something new and figure out how to incorporate that into my life.  For example, I started researching the ingredients that were listed on the labels of the toiletries I use daily and became quite dissatisfied with what I was putting on/in my body.  The search began for products that were more pure.  After much experimentation, I had switched nearly all of my body care and cosmetic items.  When I realized that these new products were costing me a large amount of money, I began to search out ways to reduce the amount of products I HAD to have, and seek ways to make my own stuff (I'm still on that journey as I write this post).

I find that while I'm in the height of my focused pursuit in learning something new, something in my heart begins to stir within me.  It's as if God is nudging me, reminding me that there is more to this life than the pursuit of bettering my own life.  While I pursue the knowledge of better nutrition, and have the means well within my grasp to employ that knowledge into my lifestyle, there are millions around the world, and even in my own city, who go hungry on a regular basis.  While I pursue knowledge on how to make my own body care products, millions suffer in filthy environments.  While I plan my next home improvement project, millions live without shelter.  While I research the best water filtration system for my home, others have no access to safe, clean drinking water.

God does not remind me of these desperate needs to make me feel guilty for my own blessed life.  He reminds me so that I do not get carried away with improving my own life while ignoring or neglecting the tremendous needs of real people all over the world.

For me, I find that I can easily become overwhelmed by the intensity of the needs of others.  Not only are there persistent issues that plague these people day after day, there are also disasters that strike suddenly, throwing people into desperate need who were previously happy in living a good life.  I've been feeling quite overwhelmed lately in figuring out how I can help in a tangible way.  I'm sure I'm not the only person to look at so much need and figure that what I'm able to do is not even enough to make a tiny scratch.  But I also realize that it would be a shame to let that thought discourage me.  If I can REGULARLY do SOMETHING to help SOMEWHERE, it adds up to more than I might imagine.

I recently browsed through an interesting website that had put together a list of what they considered to be the top 20 problems in the world.  And although they were able to identify 20 distinct things, they also acknowledged that these are often interrelated to each other.  Often when you begin to tackle one, it brings up one of the other issues.

Allow God to begin speaking to your heart as you read about these 20 needs.  Surely there is SOMETHING each of us can do.  We all have certain resources, connections, abilities, passions.  Submit those things to God and let Him show you how you can make a difference in someone else's life who is living in desperate need.  This was their list... Access to: EDUCATION, FOOD, HEALTH CARE, WATER; child soldiers, drug dependancy, environmental sanitation, gangs, HIV/AIDS, homelessness, human trafficking, loneliness, poverty, racial inequality, refugees and the displaced, security, slavery, and suicide.

Along with these twenty things is the fact that most of those who are lost and don't know Yahshua (Jesus) as their savior is a victim of one or more of these desperate needs.  They need to know Him.  What good does it do for us to give a thirsty person a drink, or a naked person clothing, or rescue someone who is held captive if we never tell them of the One who can set them free from eternal death and bondage?  It's pointless!  Why save them from the living hell they endure on earth, only to never reach out in an attempt to rescue them from an eternal hell that is far more gruesome than what they could ever endure on earth?

From the Home Base is a fun site to learn about how to live a more natural life, but it's also about encouraging and prodding us to do something to reach out the "the least of these" on a regular basis.  What if every time we went grocery shopping we set some money aside to help feed someone who is hungry?  What if every time we replaced our water filter we gave money to help provide clean drinking water for a village on the other half of the world?  And let us never take the easy way out of always giving our money and never GOING to those places ourselves!

Let's not get so focused on our own lives that we forget that there is more to this life than being happy and caring for ourselves!

You can click on the link titled "The Least of These" on this blog in the side bar and find out about some tremendous opportunities to make a difference in the lives of real people.  These are not huge organizations that pocket a large percentage of your contribution for "administrative costs".  You can count on your contributions being used for exactly what you are giving it for!

Start somewhere.  Today.