Saturday, May 23, 2009

On Through



Clearly, life deals people some pretty tough hands.

Sometimes the best thing to do in some situations is to just change course. You know, turn around. Go a different direction. Take an alternative route.

Often that approach, though desirable, is not possible.

People find themselves trapped, surrounded by enemies and obstacles and, well, nothing with which to work on a solution.

Over the past 15 years, I've seen this reality what seems like a million times. Poverty creates such dilemmas and then imposes them on good people.

Solutions?

Often very, very hard to discover.

But I've noticed in my schooling from and among "the poor" that those who make it just simply keep battling, trying, struggling until they break "on through."

Faith is always a part of that movement through. And, so is community. No one makes it "on through" without help and engagement with others.

As I've been saying for a long time, poor folks have a lot to teach us.

.

2 comments:

Joan Davis said...

I really like what you say here, it is so true. True about everything really. We find ourselves in cycles that we can't break on our own, whether self-imposed or happenstance of life.

We can't just wish them away, we cannot just pretend they are not there. It takes faith, it takes perseverance, and a loving community. Praise God, He comes through others to teach, to lead, to love and to help us.

DeJon Redd said...

Slightly OT: America's poor are its most generous givers. Empirical evidence.