So there’s this stain on the carpet in my living room. Right there in front of the sofa. It’s a blotchy, brown spot where my 3-year-old son, Morgan, spilled some food.
Oh, I’ve tried to clean it. But it’s a stubborn stain. I think it might be there for good. And that’s frustrating. 
No, I’m not mad at Morgan. Three-year-olds spill things. That’s part of being a kid. But I do hate that every time I walk into the living room I see that stain. Somehow, it changes the whole room. It makes the whole house seem dirty … unkempt.
But then I’m reminded of the trip I took to the Philippines two years ago, to see the little girl I sponsor. Her house — made of scraps of wood and tin — sits at the bottom of a garbage-strewn ravine.
There’s sewage water trickling down the slope just a few feet from her front door. The entire house could fit in my living room.
And, I should point out, has dirt floors. No carpeting.
She, like many of the millions of children who live in extreme poverty around the world, has never had the luxury of carpeting in her house. Seems silly to consider carpeting a luxury, but it is.
As I looked around my sponsored child’s home, the only food I saw was half a bag of rice and two potatoes.
She explained to me that it was the only food that her family of four had for the remainder of the week.
Her father works construction for less than two dollars a day and her mother stays home to care for her baby brother. There’s not enough food to go around. And there’s certainly not enough to spill.
All of a sudden that stain on my carpet doesn’t seem so bad after all.
Maybe it can remind me of the families that don’t have carpet to stain. Don’t have food to spill.
Maybe it’s a reminder of just how blessed my family has been. And maybe it’s to serve notice too, that God expects more from me. He doesn’t want me fretting over carpet stains. He wants me worried about the poor. He wants me to make sure they have enough to eat.
Wouldn’t it be nice if my sponsored child’s family had enough food to spill?
So there’s this stain on the carpet in my living room. And I’m so glad it’s there.