The other night my husband, William, was out late talking with someone in our yard. When he came in I asked him what was up “His family is dealing with hunger” was his reply. And it hit me like a punch in the stomach. These are my neighbors, my friends; their kids are hungry. Tonight. As I eat my beef stew.
We’ve hit the time of year that is often referred to as the hunger gap. In this farming community harvest season takes place in Sept – Dec. During those months bellies are full and people are celebrating. People are healthy and happy. Some of the harvest is stored and kept for later, and often some is sold to help the family out of tough financial situations or to pay school fees for the children. Come March everyone is busy getting their seeds in the ground during planting season. We all look to the skies and pray for rain so the crops might grow. And then May and June roll around…
It’s a beautiful time of year when everywhere you look you see green. Incredible rain and thunderstorms. Little plants growing. New life. But if you take a look beyond the beauty of the land, you will see the pain of her people. Those beautiful green plants don’t have any food to offer yet. And so families anxiously await the time when fresh corn can be plucked and eaten. But for now they deal with hunger.
Pray for us to have wisdom about how to help our neighbors. To look at big-picture, long-term solutions. But even as we pray about and seek out long-term answers, we deal with the fact of hunger today. And yes, we did make sure that our neighbor’s family got some help. But this is a struggle that is faced on a daily basis by too many people in our world.
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.” – Matthew 25:35
