It’s #GivingTuesday.
I keep wondering what our world would look like if, everyday, we spoke of and actually acted on [rather than just Facebook rant] the many causes brought to the forefront of social media on this special day. As the world groans together for clean water, food to eat, shelter from persecution, and safety from being shot as you walk down the street – I have to take a beat, inhale, and recognize the privilege I live in. It’s the incredibly simple things I don’t even notice: I leave the water running too long, a half eaten apple [is currently] cast aside next to my computer, I walk through my neighborhood in all black without a second thought, and we often publicly pray in a restaurant while worrying about an awkward exchange with the server who may bring the meal at just that moment. That’s it.
I pray that we stop to notice the world beating and breathing around us – and that we recognize and live more each moment as apart of the Body that aches together. I pray that we DO more to love and care for the poor, the orphan, and the refugee. I pray that one day we SEE a world where all have water to drink and a safe place to sleep. A bed where your body isn’t being sold to the highest bidder. A world where when you are the one who is wandering, you are welcomed into foreign lands with open arms and received as a neighbor, just like my Grandfather was. A neighborhood where we are able to recognize all have deep hurts, fears, and differences – and that those who look different than I, are heard, and seen, and just as safe as I have the privilege to be.
There are times when I feel like it’s all too much and then times when I know just one person and one dollar and one prayer can make a difference.
It’s days like today where I pause and take a deep breath. A breath that is both comforting and one that I shudder in, because I know my 12 year old niece Gracelyn doesn’t get to breathe like that. After years of surviving Cystic Fibrosis and battling rejection after a double lobe lung transplant, G is fighting yet again to simply breathe. If you haven’t yet felt compelled to walk alongside one of the many areas of injustice and need in the world, I boldly ask you to walk with my family and to care for this sweet and strong girl.
To stay updated on Gracelyn’s journey, please check out her CaringBridge Journal. To help with the simple, at at the same time extraordinary things, like food, flights, housing, and the like, please donate to Gracelyn’s GoFundMe page.
- The Urban Ministry Center: helping meet the basic needs of Charlotte’s homeless community
- The Warehouse242 Adoption Fund: supporting one of the many families at my church who feel called to adoption
- Hagar International: as they do what it takes to restore the broken lives of victims of sex trafficking
- Sankofa Journey: participate in, or provide a scholarship for, the ECC Sankofa Journey as we wade through conversations of racial reconciliation and justice
- CharlotteONE: Support this community that connects young professionals in Charlotte to the local church and things that matter: get connected, make a difference, and find their purpose
THIS CANVAS CALLED LIFE 