Poverty and my kids

Poverty...is such a difficult and painful concept to explain to young children especially when I struggle with it myself. I'll preface this by sharing some comments and art work from my kids today. This morning as we were walking home from a little shop (we had purchased 5 little deep fried "donuts") next to Beautiful Gate, Elijah said, "I feel like we are so rich." All I could say was yes we are rich compared to everyone he is friends with here in Lesotho. It has been bothering me a lot more lately myself as I watch one of the BG staff Elijah hangs out with. He eats plain bread everyday for tea time and then at lunch he eats papa (dry, powdered corn which is boiled). Always the same meal and snacks, he lives in a tiny house, and he walks everywhere because he has no car. He makes a little more, in one month, than we spend on groceries every week. Each Sunday we see young boys who are "parking" (parking is free on the weekend and we know that but we pay them for protecting our car anyway) cars just to try to get a little money. It is hard not to feel guilty, privileged, selfish, and many other things when you can see people with so much less than you everyday. It was so much easier in MI where I knew about poverty but I did not see it everyday.

Then there is Faith, my beautiful 6 year old daughter (she had her birthday this past Monday). When we were in Zeeland, she would play princess or pretend to be a puppy and it was always lighthearted and carefree. Now she pretends to be a poor orphan who dresses in rags and has to work hard for scraps to eat. I almost cry when she plays pretend because it hurts to think that there are a lot of children who live the way she is pretending to live in her playing. Then during our art lesson for today, the kids were suppose to draw a picture of nature. It was raining so I put a few rocks, leaves, and fruit on the table and let them draw. Faith drew an apple floating down a river. Then she drew the face of a girl and said it was a poor girl with no food and she was waiting to eat the apple. Elijah then had his picture be a couple of boys who collected apples and pears from trees and gave them to the poor.

It is a struggle when you don't know what to do. Do you give beggars money or buy some extra food and give it to them as you leave the store. Do you buy a bunch of extra shoes and keep them in the car for the next kid you see with his feet hanging out of his ripped up shoes? Are the kids on the street working for someone who takes all their money each night? God, you say feed the hungry, cloth the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned but we don't even know where to begin. There are so many and if you help one it is expected that you will do the same for the rest. This is a very jealous culture and I have been warned many times about being careful who I give things too because then I will be expected to do the same for everyone around. My actions are being watched by my 3 kids as well and I want to do what is pleasing to God and set an example for them. Please pray for us to have God's wisdom, discernment, and heart for those in need.