Thoughts

Last night I was blog stalking, and came across a new post on the Salvatierra's blog. Mike, Laura, and their one year old Noah are missionaries in Peru. Laura wrote of her trip to Hogar de Maria, a women's shelter in their area. Reading her reflections on the time she spent there pricked my heart. She told numerous stories of the women there who have small children, no where to go, experience abuse, and are under extreme poverty. Each story made my heart sad, and reminded me of so many around us that are in similar situations. Even in the work we do here in the inner city, there are many hurting people that we face day to day. And I realized as I read that my heart has become somewhat numb to my surroundings. Why doesn't it surprise me anymore to hear of another middle schooler on the streets again, getting arrested yet another time for dealing drugs? Why am I not saddened much over one of the girls asking for prayer because she got into trouble partying once again over the weekend? Why am I indifferent over the fact that a 14 year old girl is about to fail the 7th grade yet again, and doesn't care? And we don't have to be in a position in life where we are in contact with the "less fortunate" to know of those who have trials in life and struggles with sin. How many of our neighbors are going through hardships that need someone to be there for them? How many people around us need to experience Christ's love? How many people are waiting for our hearts to be pricked and have compassion on them? Laura's post reminded me of how hard my heart has become, and prompted me to pray that I might be more aware and sensitive to what I see around me, and more inclined to love fiercely as Christ loved. I love the passage in Scripture that talks about the crowds following Jesus, and it says (my paraphrase) that He "looked at them and had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd." There are several things that are important in that phrase, but the two that stand out to me in relation to this are: 1) he LOOKED at them; and 2) he had compassion on them. Let's pray and ask God to help us look at others (instead of turning our heads the other way) and have compassion on them (to actually do something about what we see).