Wednesday Words of Wisdom

Love is...meeting needs.
Dr. Bobby Renfro

Bro. Bobby was my pastor during my teenage years. He once said, "Love is meeting needs." Joel has used this definition in almost every wedding he's officiated because it had such an impact on the both of us as youth.

Today is Blog Action Day. Compassion International has asked its bloggers to speak to the issue of poverty and give people tangible ways to make a difference. The irony is that recent events in the stock market has money on everyone's minds. We are all so very concerned with how much money we are losing and how bad the economy is that we lose perspective. Yet the real poverty that plagues our world is not the absence of monetary wealth. It is our failure to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters. It is our lack of love toward our fellow man. It is our disobedience to Christ's command to "love your neighbor as yourself". Through reputable organizations like Compassion, we can demonstrate love by meeting not only the physical needs, but also the spiritual needs of children who live in poverty conditions that most of us could not begin to imagine.

So while there are millions participating in Blog Action Day, very few will see my humble little post. And of those few, even less will be moved to take action. But it reminds me of the illustration of the man who happened upon a little boy on the beach. A storm had churned the ocean waters and left the sand covered with hundreds and hundreds of starfish. The man watched as the little boy carefully picked up a starfish and threw it back into the water. Then another and another and another. Even though he worked diligently, he hardly made any visible progress because there were so many stranded starfish. The man finally said, "Why do you bother? Look at all of these. There is no way you can ever make a difference." The little boy launched another starfish into the sea, stopped, looked at the man, and said, "I made a difference to THAT one."

Our family has a starfish. Her name is Doreen and she lives in Uganda. All around her is poverty, AIDS, and hunger. We can't possibly save all of the children on our own, but we can help THAT one. By meeting her needs. By loving her.

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Love is...meeting needs.