For now, that's enough.

A couple Fridays ago at The Center, my 4th graders and I spent the afternoon doing different activities based on the book A Chair For My Mother.  In the story, a little girl and her mother save all their coins in a jar so they can buy an armchair after everything they had is lost in a fire.  Right after the fire, all their neighbors bring extra furniture, pots, pans and everything else the family needs to furnish their home.  We talked about what it would be like to be in a fire and what kinds of things we would want our neighbors to help us with, and what kinds of things we could bring to our neighbors in need.

The kids listened very attentively to the story and really engaged with the idea of sharing with others in need.  After doing several other activities related to the book, I read them Matthew 25:31-40, focusing in on "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." We brainstormed how we could see Jesus in other people and take care of their needs.  Each kid came up with ideas for how they could not only meet physical needs, but emotional or social needs, too.  They really lit up at the concept of responding to others as though they were taking care of Jesus Himself.

Every afternoon, when we read a book together as a class, the kids sit on a thick blanket I bought for our reading corner.  It was getting fairly dusty, so that Friday, I brought it home with me to wash over the weekend. That night, as friends were leaving my house in their car, they saw a woman they recognized as a beggar from downtown who has a mental illness sleeping on the corner of my street.  They called me to tell me about her, saying she was sleeping in her clothes without anything to cover her.  It was late at night, and I remembered the woman from the times I'd passed her in a trufi, yelling at everyone who walked past and hitting at people with a stick.  I was scared to go downstairs alone, unsure of what reaction I might get from the woman if I tried to help her.  But it's winter in Cochabamba, and I remembered both the thick blanket I'd just brought home, as well as what I'd encouraged my kids to do if they saw someone in need.  So I swallowed my fear and walked down to the corner where the woman was sleeping in the street, using the sidewalk as her pillow.  To my relief, she was sleeping soundly and didn't wake up when I tucked the blanket around her.

my street

As I walked back into my house with a comfortable bed, I was confronted again by my inability to fix the world's problems, and the tension of living in a house when others just have the streets.  But my kiddos pushed me that evening to do something I wouldn't have otherwise been brave enough to do.  And for now, that's enough.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the 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, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Matthew 25:34-36