On Tuesday, my bus crested a hill overlooking La Carpio, a impoverished barrio in San Jose, Costa Rica and I watched as women sent their children off to school--the first full week for many students here. Although the photo you see on the left is not a photo snapped by my camera ( this Latina mom is dressed far too nicely) - it may invoke the emotions I felt as a bystander, seeing five or six moms gathered alongside the school bus, hugging, then waving, then air-kissing, then running feverishly alongside the bus wishing their children a safe journey and a wonderful school day.That picture remained embedded in my subconscious and churned my emotions that entire workday, as I saw women in clinic. Women barely able to afford the expense of one modest meal of rice and beans, let alone the nominal fee charged for a lab exam or consult. Wow. Women live in vastly different environments- urban slums, rural African villages, suburban lives with urgent demands to make ends meet , cross-culturally as missionary mothers wondering how the experience will affect our families, or on small farms with huge responsibilities.
I pondered the same image as I rode the bus home, discussed it with my husband, and prayed that evening for the moms I share life with, the moms who visit the clinic weekly, and moms I've never met facing unthinkable challenges - Christian, and non-Christian, young and old, newlyweds and empty nesters.
All moms are needy, tired, and wanting support from others in this demanding role from time to time. God has placed us where we are at just this time to encourage one another. And for those of us fortunate to have access to a computer and internet, to extend ourselves across continents or just across town and to share God's love tangibly.
How can we be the incarnational hands and feet of Christ today, tomorrow and every day?
1 comment:
by doing just what you are doing- writing us all, and encouraging us constantly! You are the hands and feet of Jesus.
hugs,
Vicky
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