Where there's life, there's hope. Terence
I've been hovering over this quote for months and months. I suppose it is time. :)
I found today's quote on a Celestial Seasonings tea bag at work one day and it literally struck me the moment I read it. What came to my mind immediately was my beloved Kenya and its slums. I have walked through two of Kenya's worst slums, indeed one of them is the oldest and worst slum in all of East Africa - Mathare Valley. Before walking through it a friend who had previously done so told me how deplorable the slum was. All one has to do is look at pictures to see that. Lifelong residents of Nairobi refuse to go near Mathare, as they may have to drive by it they turn the other way and pretend they don't see it. Upon finding out that we were willingly and even eagerly going into Mathare and purposely spending time there the local people are confused and frightened. Mathare is no walk in the park my friends. This same friend told me, privately, that even though Mathare was the worst of humanity staring at you as you walk by she said she still saw beauty there. We are very similar in our perspectives so I was curious to know how I would feel walking through. Would I see the beauty in Mathare as she had?
Walking down one of Mathare's hills I knew immediately what she meant. We visited a few homes, varying in the levels of poverty that exist within 3 square miles. Several people I was with did not see the beauty, I kept my observations to myself for to share them would interfere with what they were supposed to see with their hearts. But why did I, and my friend, see beauty? Because there was hope. What? How was there hope in such a place? Because there was life and not just life but there are people who live in that slum that have discovered real Life in the midst of this life on earth. One cannot live with hope in such a place without knowing the author of Hope. It is impossible. Test me on this. Go to where these people are. Go to Mathare. Go to the trash heaps in South America. Go to where humanity is the worst and see if I am not right. If you cannot grasp life through the author of Hope then your existence is destined for not just poverty of material possessions but poverty of spirit as well and that is the worst kind of poverty to have. When you have Hope because of Life you no longer are weighted down by the poverty of material possessions because your spirit is rich. I saw the evidence of this with my own eyes and heart. I've continued to see evidence of it since then.
The rub, and the lesson, is this: you don't have to live in a slum or a trash heap to have poverty of spirit. You can be living in your 3 bedroom, 2 car garage home and lack Hope. Where there is life there is hope. Do you have Life and Hope or are you as impoverished as those who reside in slums?
I've been hovering over this quote for months and months. I suppose it is time. :)
I found today's quote on a Celestial Seasonings tea bag at work one day and it literally struck me the moment I read it. What came to my mind immediately was my beloved Kenya and its slums. I have walked through two of Kenya's worst slums, indeed one of them is the oldest and worst slum in all of East Africa - Mathare Valley. Before walking through it a friend who had previously done so told me how deplorable the slum was. All one has to do is look at pictures to see that. Lifelong residents of Nairobi refuse to go near Mathare, as they may have to drive by it they turn the other way and pretend they don't see it. Upon finding out that we were willingly and even eagerly going into Mathare and purposely spending time there the local people are confused and frightened. Mathare is no walk in the park my friends. This same friend told me, privately, that even though Mathare was the worst of humanity staring at you as you walk by she said she still saw beauty there. We are very similar in our perspectives so I was curious to know how I would feel walking through. Would I see the beauty in Mathare as she had?
Walking down one of Mathare's hills I knew immediately what she meant. We visited a few homes, varying in the levels of poverty that exist within 3 square miles. Several people I was with did not see the beauty, I kept my observations to myself for to share them would interfere with what they were supposed to see with their hearts. But why did I, and my friend, see beauty? Because there was hope. What? How was there hope in such a place? Because there was life and not just life but there are people who live in that slum that have discovered real Life in the midst of this life on earth. One cannot live with hope in such a place without knowing the author of Hope. It is impossible. Test me on this. Go to where these people are. Go to Mathare. Go to the trash heaps in South America. Go to where humanity is the worst and see if I am not right. If you cannot grasp life through the author of Hope then your existence is destined for not just poverty of material possessions but poverty of spirit as well and that is the worst kind of poverty to have. When you have Hope because of Life you no longer are weighted down by the poverty of material possessions because your spirit is rich. I saw the evidence of this with my own eyes and heart. I've continued to see evidence of it since then.
The rub, and the lesson, is this: you don't have to live in a slum or a trash heap to have poverty of spirit. You can be living in your 3 bedroom, 2 car garage home and lack Hope. Where there is life there is hope. Do you have Life and Hope or are you as impoverished as those who reside in slums?
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