“Dear God, why me?”
I admit I’ve prayed that prayer many times in my life: on my knees, sobbing, as a 7-year-old while my father’s body lay in the next room; quietly in my new room at the orphanage where the remainder of my childhood would be spent; silently at the back of a church gathering as I struggled through the end of a career.
And I prayed it again last week, as I stood in the middle of a slum outside of Recife, Brazil.
I watched as two young boys skipped across the tremendous pile of garbage that surrounds their shanty home. I marveled as they meandered through unmentionable filth and stench. I marveled because they were smiling the whole time.
“Dear God, why me?” I whispered.
This time, my question came from a different perspective. This time it wasn’t, “Why have You allowed this tragedy to fall on me?” But rather, “Why have You allowed such blessing to fall upon me?”
“Why was I born in a country that afforded me many more opportunities than this family? Why do I get to sleep in a warm bed at night while they sleep on the cold, hard ground of their tin shack?”
“Why do I get to step out onto my lawn without fear of rusted hypodermic needles, shards of glass, and broken tin cans among other filth?”
“Why me, God? Why did You give me so much and them so little?”
Of course I know the answer. I know that I have been blessed for a reason: to be a blessing.
Yes, that may sound trite but it’s true. God entrusted me with so much so that I can help make sure no family lives in such filth. No human being should.
Question is: Have I fulfilled that calling?
If you’re reading this blog post, chances are you are one of the blessed. So I would encourage you to ask the question as well. How much could we all accomplish, if the Church in our country (and other developed countries) collectively asked the same question:
“Dear God, why me?”
I’ve prayed that same prayer so many times — Why do I have such an easy life, when so many others are enduring such severe hardships and tragedies? I’ve come to the same conclusion as you — I use what God has given me in order to bless others. It’s the way God has called us to live. Thanks for your inspiration!
Linda
GREAT point. Thanks for this.
I actually *have* thought this, but it’s been a fleeting thought. Again, thanks for bringing it back to mind.
Why me? — indeed.
Tim, my heart goes out to you. I was not orphaned until I was 17. God graciously gave me inherited wealth and my parents had used birth control, so there was only me and no siblings to split the interitance with. It was dumb luck and the provision of God that I wound up orphaned, but well off.
I do want to thank God that I live in America, with government child protection networks, health and birth control services, and sanitation rules. I hope that the people of the countries of the world continue to demand effective governments, freedom and dignity.
Thank you for sharing this. Since returning from the India sponsor tour I have been processing this same thought. What God has given me is a blessing but it is also a great responsibility. I have been asking myself “Have I used what God has given me to the fullest of His glory or have I been wasting the blessings?” My answer is that I have been wasting most of it on what the world says I need and not using what He’s given me to glorify Him. God has impressed upon my heart that it’s not just my finances I have wasted but I have not opened my house to people to share God’s love with them, I have not shared what I have been taught at my church to others. God has given me the opportunity for so much and given me so many resources but I have wasted so much of it and have taken it for granted. Through my recent sponsor tour to India, my eyes have been open and now it is time for me to be intentional about sharing my blessings and taking ownership to the great responsibility that God has given me. Thank you for seeing this too and sharing it!
Dear Tim
I praise God for the opportunity that He gave to you to vist and to see with your own eyes the “God’s Island”, it makes a difference when you learn why those children need help and how you can do it – being thier voice.
Thanks guys, for reading…and for the comments.
Yes, God is good! And when He opens our eyes to see the reality of the rest of the world, it’s for a reason. It’s so we’ll open our hearts.
Been thinking a lot over the past year about how much God has blessed us…and what we’re supposed to do with that blessing. That’s the reason Compassion created the website, http://www.whoarethejoneses.org
So we can get a dose of reality.
Thanks again for reading and for leaving comments!
tim
This is a wonderful post that I think echos every sponsors heart.
Hope you don’t mind the repost on my blog.
http://fortheloveofachild-tlrog.blogspot.com/2011/03/dear-god-why-me.html
“To those whom much is given, much is expected”
@Becky–I couldn’t agree more.
@Tim–Beautifully written. Our sadnesses are often minimized when we can count our blessings.
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