“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything that I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it, but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.”

~ I Corinthians 13:1-3.

Why we do what we do and how we do it matters as much as doing what we do. Helping others when it is in our power to help them is not just our duty, it is love in action. . . 

"At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by 'I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was naked and you clothed me, I was homeless and you took me in.' Hungry not only for bread - but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing - but naked for human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks - but homeless because of rejection."
Mother Teresa

A new mommy for Lerato

I am happy to bring you the story of Lerato today, from the most recent Oasis Haven newsletter:

"It was a little over a week since we heard the official news, and we were waiting expectantly for the arrival of Lerato’s adoptive mother. It had been a week full of excitement, with lots of speculation from Lerato and the other children about what her new mommy and her new life would be like. The excitement only heightened by the adoption of another little boy that week.

When asked what day it was, clever Lerato exclaimed, “It’s Monday!” “But, Lerato, what day is it?” “It’s Monday,” replied Lerato, slightly annoyed at the obvious ignorance of the inquirer. “But, Lerato, what is happening today?”

Lerato’s eyes lit up and her smile widened, “I get my new mommy today!”

Lerato’s mother brought with her a small suitcase and a doll. When she opened the case she found it stuffed full of little dresses and accessories for her new doll. Mother and daughter enjoyed time getting to know each other as they dressed the doll in one outfit after another. When it came time to leave, Lerato said a quick goodbye to her housemother and jumped into the bus, eager to begin her new life with her new mommy.

Seeing Lerato off, what we know for certain is that children need mothers. They need fathers. They need loving parents dedicated to their well-being. Nothing can take the place of that in a child’s heart. Watching this precious child enter into her family, we now feel a heightened urgency to find family for the other children waiting for a mommy and daddy of their very own. The very best that we can do for every child entrusted to our care is to make sure that they have a family forever."

I can picture that little girl with her new Mommy. Can you? There is much about the world that sends us to our knees, including the devastation in Japan as I write this.  But there are also places in the world where little lights still shine in the darkness, reminding us not to give in to despair . . . 

Join me on my Jubilee. . .

With. . .

A thought for the beginning of the week:

“The word compassion is derived from the Latin words pati and cum, which together mean “to suffer with.” Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.” ~ Henri Nouwen.

Do it anyway

Wise words from someone who loved extravagantly:

"People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway."
~ Mother Teresa

With the sheer number of orphans living on the streets of Johannesburg - thousands upon thousands - what difference does it make if I help in only a small way rescue just a handful? It matters to that handful.

And it matters to God.

So it matters to me. . .

Freckles in the Water

Ready for a cute story this morning? Recently, five year old Khanya went for a visit to her “special auntie’s” house in Johannesburg.  She desperately wanted to swim but when they got to the pool they realized that chemicals had only just been put in the water and it was looking rather murky.

Her special auntie told her that she didn’t think they would be able to swim as the chemicals would be too strong.  Khanya immediately suggested that they pray about it.  Quietly she closed her eyes and said “Dear Lord, please can you take the freckles out of the water as I would really like to swim!”

I love how young ones turn to God for help as confidently and honestly as if he were their sitting-right-there-in-his-chair Papa. And indeed, for the children at Oasis Haven, God is very much the first father-figure they learn to love and trust.

It's been a month since I have begun my Jubilee for Joburg journey. I want to raise $5,000 to help pay the cost of the therapies these children need when they come to Oasis Haven from off the streets. Some of them have never played. They don't know what it is like to play. Some have never imagined what they would like to be when they grow up. They don't know how to look up to God in hope, or trust another human being to love them like God loves them.

Join me, would you?

We can help take the freckles out of the pool. . .

 

Today is yesterday's tomorrow

I love this quote by John Wayne: "Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. It comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."


Everyday we're given is an opportunity to do what we wanted to do yesterday and somehow didn't get to do. We might have run out of time, out of resources, out of courage, out of steam. But we can wake up on the day that follows that day we didn't do what we wanted to do, and there before us are upwards of eighteen usable hours at the ready - unspent and waiting - and even more if we are willing to lose a little sleep.


It's comforting - empowering - to know that the good that I wished to do yesterday, I can still do today. This tomorrow I've been given is hopeful that I will. And hope is a good, good thing.


What will you do with this tomorrow you hold in your hands today?