Love God, Love People

I haven’t carved out the time to write on my blog for quite a while. Quite frankly, living at this pace has worn me out.

Fortunately, I am on vacation this week! And it has been glorious so far, but the days keep going by too fast. I have so many things I want to do, and this is one of them.

I’ve been thinking about the state the world is in and that there are no “easy” answers. There is a “short” answer, though, that I am attempting to adhere to for my own life.

Love God. Love People.

Isn’t that what Jesus called us to anyway?

“Jesus replied, ‘The most important commandment is this: Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.’” (Mark 12:29-31)

Love God. Love People. While that sounds like a very short answer, it is definitely NOT the easy one.

The year after we moved to Texas was very difficult. Moving here was the wrench called “this has to stop” of the financial chaos that started when we moved to AR three long years before. We truly believed, and still do, that God took us to AR. And it was the place where we were stripped bare… in more ways than one.

We moved to Texas to start over with what we knew.

It’s always a challenge building from the ground up to set up a firm foundation that will withstand the storms of life. And the first year we were here brought many storms. Many.

I look back at those, however, with different eyes than I had while going through them. There are some things that I still don’t understand. There is one situation that is still sensitive to my heart.

My husband is a teacher, and he loves it. It is what he was made for. As we all know, however, teachers don’t always get the best salaries, and they only get paid once a month. That is, especially, a hardship for a teacher with a large family…and only one income.

That summer, our family ran out of staples. Milk. Bread. Peanut Butter. We had no chance of getting any, either. There was absolutely no money. We didn’t even have gas money, which was okay since Jim doesn’t work over the summers. While trying not to ask anyone for anything, I sent a text to a couple of people we went to church with here. I told them our predicament and requested that they pray for us during this time, hoping for some answer. They said they would pray. Another lady I knew from a different situation, all Christ-professing people, asked if we were tithing, and if we weren’t, maybe that’s why we were going through this.

I’m not saying I’m any better than anyone else, but I’m saying that I have learned, through hardship and pain, that if we can help our neighbor, and it’s within our power do it, we should.

“If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say, ‘Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.’” (Proverbs 3:28)

The mentality that God was punishing our family for some reason really made me angry. We tried to do what He asked us to do, uprooting our family from MO to AR; uprooting our family again to TX. And although we were grateful for the hope that moving to TX brought, the truth was our family was hungry.

And there was nothing we could do about it.

So, God did answer our prayer in an odd way, which He seemed to do frequently. Our kids did get some bread, milk, and peanut butter. And we were grateful for how He provided for our family.

I’ve seen and heard so many people who are hurting out there. We, who call ourselves Christ-followers, can speak a short, “Yes, I’ll pray for you,” and go on about our lives without remembering what it was like to be in need. Be assured that there will come a time where you will be in need again. Do you hope that someone will be your answer to prayer? Then, while we are able, we should be someone’s answer.

Everyone in this world has needs, and we are called to be salt and light, displaying the hope in what real love can do.

You might call me a Pollyanna, but I think we can change the world.

It has to start with us. With you. With me.