Thursday, December 4, 2008

Do You Have Anything Good?


The other day I went to take the trash out to the dumpster beside our apartment building when I saw, as I often do, people rummaging through the trash in the dumpster. Immediately my heart sunk while I watched two adults and two children search for something worthwhile, though I'm not sure what would be considered worthwhile amid a pile of smelly trash. Then the little boy approached me as I was putting my bag of trash over the fence into the dumpster and asked me "do you have anything good in there?" Wow I thought. How do I respond to that? Of course I don't have anything good I thought. That is why I'm throwing it away. In that moment I wished I did have something good to offer him. He must have been really desperate to be searching through the trash for something good. We cannot imagine the difficult life that so many around us are living. It is very common to see people rummaging through trash. One thing that we often comment about is how people create their own jobs here out of necessity. Many times you've heard us say that in Mexico there simply aren't enough jobs to go around. Everyday we are reminded of the need for jobs as we are at stop lights, in a parking lot, or at the grocery store. When you are stopped at a stop light you might see someone selling roses, juggling, selling gum, begging for money, or passing out an advertisement. The list goes on. In a parking lot we usually have someone approach us and ask if we want a car wash. And there is always someone helping us find a parking spot and directing us as we pull in and out of our space. At the grocery store there are people who help you unload your groceries onto the checkout counter, people who put your groceries in bags, and people who offer to take your groceries to the car for you. Everyone expects a tip of some sort and depend on tips to make a living. Many of them have created their own jobs in hopes of providing a living for themselves. At first it really annoyed me that we had to have pesos on us at all times to give to the person that helped us back out of our parking spot for example. But, Josh helped me realize that many of these people have no other option and they are trying to do the best they can, and we in turn can do our part by supporting them. Now we give joyfully in these random situations. Though it never ceases to amaze us what people will try to sell at a stoplight, we even give to the begging handicapped person sometimes because there is no government aid available to them like that in the U.S. Every day we are reminded of how much we have and we are compelled to ask ourselves "do we have anything good to give?" We cannot offer money or food to every person in need, but we are thankful that we can offer the hope of Jesus Christ to those we meet. He is the only one who can meet their every need. We all have good news to share and something to offer a world in need. Are you sharing what you have?

Jennifer

1 comment:

Heidi Weaver said...

what an amazing reminder. i love this post. we have so much to be grateful for!