The Line

What is the line between guilt and action? Feeling guilty for all that we have keeps me from doing something for others. The Compassion Bloggers are in the Philippines this week, and as I read posts like this one, the lump in my throat forms, and I look at all we have accumulated with different eyes. Eyes found again when the veil is lifted.

So that line? The line for me is love. The guilt causes me to store, to stew, and to look at stuff with distasteful eyes, but love~ love for God's children~ stirs me to my feet to do something. It's not about my stuff, but my desire to have less so that others have more...

And this is how they will know us. Love. I often think in my spending in terms of what I could do with that amount. One nice meal out for our family could pay for an entire month of support for another Compassion child. Or buy enough food at a bank to feed 20 homeless brothers & sisters.  I often get stuck in a hole feeling guilty... how did I get dropped down into this lavish life when others live in drastically different circumstances? But while guilt allows me to wallow, it's love that challenges my heart to loosely hold these comforts and even give them away. Many rich people feel guilty. But love is the thing that cleanses our guilt and calls us to move. Suddenly I see that it's not at all about my stuff!!

And God is doing many things~ He doesn't need me to feel guilty. He doesn't need me to pity. He has called me, allowed me, to partner with him in doing something amazing.