Living in plenty...

The other day I was pierced to the heart when I was reading that an estimated 300,000 Haitians were killed in the earthquake of January 12, 2010.  And I thought to myself, here I am in Canada and I live in such comfort, I have everything I could possibly need and I thought of my children being raised in this western world...a world of plenty.  Where health care is freely given,  where there are systems in place to meet our needs and I wonder does it become a stumbling block? When so much is given does it become an expectation for more so that the blessings we have now seem not enough… 

I sat and thought of all those killed in that earthquake…in moments life changed forever for thousands for millions.  And I cried because here I sit and I have so much and I never want to be numbed in heart for another…I don't want this prosperity that is so evident in the western world to cause my heart or the hearts of my children to become indifferent to those who hurt…to those who struggle…to those who barely make it when we more than make it.  

I want them to live with hearts of gratitude, not hearts with an attitude that everything is owed to them…do we create that in our society…a society of plenty.  When everyday it seems I am throwing out bits of food and yet across the ocean 1.4 billion people live in poverty and people are dying because they have no food...

So I struggled wondering what do I do…I have so much….my children have so much and that ocean is a huge separation and yet I don't want it to become an expanse so great that I live as though I don't know…we don't know what goes on beyond our borders.  

But I live here...my kids live here, so how do we live in the midst of excess without growing cold…without demanding more.  Where is the balance found…where is God in all of this?  He is here, He is there and what does He desire?

It is not that He turns His face away from those who have much, nor does He turn His face more readily to those who have little…it is all temporary.  But what do we do with what we have been given whether it be much or little…Do we live for the gifts or the Giver of those gifts.  Yet is every so called blessing really a blessing from Him or a want fulfilled for ourselves.  

I've come to the conclusion that ultimately God desires the fulness of my heart and every heart whether we live in plenty or in want.  He wants to be Lord of my life and if He is Lord my will surrenders to His and what He asks I will do.  And so in this country of plenty I live for Him…I be a shining light amongst all the glitter and excess of this western materialistic world and my light must shine brighter and not be dulled by the bright lights of this age.  

This is where I am…where my children are…similar to Daniel in Babylon…the great city of plenty.  We the western world of plenty yet our knee must not bow to this culture of excess, of want, just as Daniel and his friends could not and would not bow to that great golden statue.  

Though often times I have felt defeated here wondering what need would any have for God when so many of our material needs are met and we continually strive to fill that hole meant for no other but Him, that need deep in our heart that only God can fill, with things…with relationships…with hobbies…with busyness…

Let Him in…He is the giver of life no matter where you find yourself…and this is the greatest thing I could ever teach my children…serve Him and in serving Him you will serve others…because that's His heart….the greatest servant heart ever...