Stop Making Excuses and Take Care of the Orphans

It’s time to stop making excuses and start taking care of orphans, widows, and those living in severe poverty.

Over $350 million was predicted for Americans to spend on their pets this Halloween. On. Their. Pets. Did I read that right? Insane.

This is compared to the $600 BILLION we were predicted to spend on the holiday alone. Billions. Only in America.

Don’t even get me started on how much was spent for political ads this year.

I feel sick when I think about those numbers. Sick. And yet, I’m to blame just as much as the next guy. Only, maybe more because I have witnessed the severe poverty with my own eyes. Walked on the parched soil with my own two feet.

Why are we so quick to whip out so much money for silly holidays, our pets, and politicians? But when someone asks for money to feed an orphan, or put a mama to work so she can keep her children, or to put a roof over the homeless person’s head, we tighten the purse strings and claim we don’t have anything to give.

And I’ve resorted to guilt here and I expect to hear some negative responses from it. You know what? I don’t care. I have looked into haunted brown eyes that continue to torture me in my dreams and in my waking hours.

If this is offensive to you, I say too bad. It should offend you.

It should offend us that we still have children dying of starvation in 2014. That precious babies don’t have parents because there are not enough folks willing to lay their finances on the line and adopt them or go care for them. Orphans around the world deserve better.

The simple solution is love, food, shelter, and clothing. And that all boils down to money. Maybe it comes down to saying NO to the new outfit for your little dog. Or the cup of coffee you don’t really need at the drive-thru today.

This all comes crashing before me as the Christmas season moves closer, day by day. Where I know we will get caught up in shopping and spending.

I’ve bought into the American lie too. I deserve to buy this. I’ve earned it. I worked for it.

But I don’t deserve it. Maybe I did earn it, but it’s still a gift. To have a body that can work, is a gift. To have a job that is available to pay you so you can eat, clothe yourself, and provide shelter for your family. That is also a gift.

When we start keeping it only for our own “deserving” selves, we start to nullify God’s gift to us. Sinful pride tells us we deserve it. And that sin will be the breaking point that begins a painful fall.

God’s got all the money the whole world could ever need, but He entrusts it to us. Humans with free will.

How then will we choose to honor His gift in our lives so that others might live?

Thoughts? Share them in the comments.

Blessings,