Because we are one...

Because we are one   ~ April 26, 2015

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in your power to act.

 ~ Proverbs 3:27

An earthquake hit Nepal yesterday rendering thousands homeless, claiming as many lives and razing structures to the ground, literally. 

True, we accept that natural disasters do happen but when it actually does, the sheer scale of the devastation is something we are never prepared for, no matter which country or continent we belong to. Yesterday’s earthquake in Nepal was, is, no different.

The images that have since filled the television screens and the social media networks are heart-wrenching, gut-twisting, frightening..  And in response, comes this overwhelming feeling of helplessness, driven with an equally strong desire to get up and do something, help someone, be there, at the scene, to hold and hug, to comfort, to assist, help in any way possible.

That, I believe, is the human response. To feel their pain as one’s own, to somehow try and transmit through the barriers of space that divides us, that we care, we understand, we stand with you and by your side at this time.

What is even more frightening, however, is the sudden onslaught of articles and pictures on the media of how it was more important that people needed to be ‘saved’ spiritually and an equally opposite stance that ‘prayer was not going to be enough’ and that we needed to do much more than *just* pray.

That is why this evening as I looked for some solace; I found these words from Proverbs 3. 

I must admit I have not read these in a while and as I began reading it, I could hear, through the passages of time, my father’s voice as he read out these verses to us, moments that seemed not so very long ago.

True, my father had many faults but the words of Solomon rang true and loud through these lines that he, my father, would repeat to us over and over again, on many a night. On many of these nights, I remember too, our, my frustration and resentfulness of these words being hammered into us and me thinking how many times do I need to hear this?

Apparently, not enough. For it has been a while now since I have heard my father read from the Bible; the dementia rendering him into a pale shadow of the man that he once was. 

But I am digressing. As I read this particular proverb, the old lines are poignant once more of the rich promises of God, of His faithfulness in all situations and how we need to seek wisdom, His wisdom in all we do.

And then I hit verse 27. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due. Second line. When it is in your power to act. 

        Let us not withhold good from those to whom it is due. When it is in your power to act. 

            So how can we? By giving what we can. As much as it is in our power to can. 

Time. Money. Resources. Aid. Prayer. 

All knit together. Each one different. Each one important.

All of us can do all that is within us in our power to act. And do so we must. Because in doing so, we can let them know that they do not stand alone. They need not face this alone. 

    Why? Because we are one. Not better. Not superior. We are in the end, one nation. 

One community. 

    One people. 

            One.