Preparedness
Are You Hungry?
Eileen Renders November 2023
Have you ever been hungry? This may sound like a peculiar question, but a question worth asking of one’s self. In quite another context, I am referring to the circumstance, not where one is simply out and about after a long day and just hasn’t had the time to sit down and eat. Rather, what I am referring to is the unfortunate homeless we often see sitting outside of a grocery Store, or downtown on a Street corner.
Many times, we have seen this sad circumstance and felt empathy. However, for as many who may feel compassion, there could be three times that number who quickly say; “Let them get a job, I have to work for my money.” Others I have heard say; “They just want money to go to get alcohol.”
Over many years, I pondered who was right and who is wrong in deciding what motivates people to sit on a corner and beg for a few cents. There are literally hundreds of worthy charitable organizations that also ask for money. There are many US Mail and Internet scammers, of that there is no doubt.
Where does that leave many of us? How do we determine to whom we will donate, and how much we will give? Again, I want to reflect on my available reflection and learning by example in once again asking myself; “What would God do, and what would God want me to do?”
Perhaps, we should give something reasonable that we can afford without doing inconveniencing ourselves. In one instance a family member once said to me as I dropped a few dollars to a beggar; “You cannot trust them, there are a lot of scammers out there.” My reply today is this; “But God recognizes all good intentions and once said”; “What you do for the least of my brethren, you do unto Me”.
This is our cold season coming on, many homeless are cold and hungry. In honor of our Creator’s birthday, let us give humbly a few coins.