I'll
Pray for You
“Prayer
is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is the daily admission
of one's weakness...And so, it is better in prayer to have a heart
without words than words without heart.”
Gandhi
On
any given day in Birmingham, there are some 2,500 homeless people
living in shelters, under bridges, in alleys and abandoned buildings.
Some of them are women with children. When I pass them on my way to
see a movie or attend a museum opening, I try not to look away. I try
not to entertain the thoughts that instantly jump into my head—why
him and not me, why is anyone in America living on the street, what
happened to her that led to this? You know the questions. In some
cases the answers are obvious—drug addiction, mental illness,
decentralization of the institutions, mental retardation. In some
cases, the answers are not so clear. Sometimes, it is simply because
he lost his job.
The
city's non-profits do the best job they can to provide for folks who
can't provide for themselves. But as services are cut due to
proration and the matching funds are not there for grants, they
struggle to provide even basic services. The downtown churches are
stepping up as much as possible; offering hospitality networks, sack
lunches, cooling centers. When the temperature outside hits 100, as
it did yesterday, the streets are a dangerous place to be. The city
opens the municipal auditorium for its homeless people and anyone
else who needs to cool off.
Praying
for the homeless is not enough, unless one plans to also get
involved. Hands and hearts are needed, too. We are caught in a
conundrum here in America. We want to downsize government services
but at the same time there are truly helpless people who cannot take
care of themselves right here among us. For every undeserving person
who works the system fraudulently, there are ten people who really
need help. What do we say to them? “Sorry, we're cutting the size
of government because we don't want to raise taxes. You're on your
own. We'll pray for you.”
Here
are some things that you can do: get involved in fund raising for
local shelters, encourage your church's help by providing meals,
snacks, or shelter from the heat, make regular donations to food
banks and thrift stores that support programs for the homeless. And
pray. Pray that we acquire the heart to be strong in the face of
weakness, not with guns and ammunition, but with food and clothing
and shelter.
In
the spirit,
Jane
1 comment:
well written!
Post a Comment