Reflexes

According to Wikipedia, a reflex action, also known as a reflex, is an involuntary and nearly instantaneous movement in response to a stimulus.   I started thinking about the things that I do that could be classified as a reflex action.  Like when I drive to Costco and buy obscene amounts of organic peanut butter and popcorn.  I buy lots of other stuff in massive quantities too.   The Costco routine is definitely a reflex action.  Involuntarily I instantly drive to Costco in response to a stimulus, aka: my bare pantry.  It’s automatic.  It's spontaneous.  Don’t all moms have this reflex…the natural human reflex to stockpile food for our families? 

I think so. 

Even the moms who live in 3^rd world countries have this reflex…a reflexive energy that moves them to do whatever they possibly can to find food triggered not by a bare pantry because they don’t have pantries, but rather by the sound of their children crying in hunger.  I’ve soaked in some of the reality of these moms…moms who don’t even know places like Costco exist.  These moms live in Haiti.  Some of them are dear friends of mine.  Others are strangers.  I’ve sat and stared at them through tear filled eyes as they attempt to supply food for their hungry children.  Their reflexes spur them to movement just like ours.  Only these moms are not driving in air conditioned cars, sipping mocha frappes, while talking on internet phones on their way to effortlessly load their shopping carts with massive proportions of all things tasty to take home for their children.   

No.  

 Life is not easy for them like mine.  

I used to not think about things like this.  But things are different now since Jesus introduced me to the lives of the needy...those He holds dear to His heart.  

 Now, for reasons that have everything to do with the weak, poor, and needy, I get nauseously uncomfortable with the exorbitant amounts of luxuries we have at our fingertips. 

Let me tell you more about these other moms.  Their faces are weary and makeup-less.  Outwardly they look completely different than us but inside they are still moms the same as us.  They still have the reflex.  The reflex that compels her to move.  Only when she moves it’s not simple.  It’s hard, painful, and exhausting.   I’ve stared at these moms from a distance as I fight back the tears.  It’s early one morning and I am driving through a busy city near Port-au-Prince.  One mom holds an arm of a child in each hand with a load of hand stitched napkins carefully balanced in a basket on her head.  She fights to cross a busy insanely chaotic street to get her children to school then hurries back to the chaos in the street in hopes to find a spot to squeeze in to sell her napkins.  She works all day in the hot sun sometimes earning only pennies a day and sometimes nothing.  She does this because she has that mom reflex…the same reflex that sends me to Costco.  This mom does this routine relentlessly every single day because where she gathers food for her kids, buying in bulk is not an option, and even if it were an option she would not have enough money to buy the items in bulk…her earnings barely purchase a few bites a day for her hungry children.   

I know God is the Author of our lives and has written us all into His story, but I’d like to know why some things are the way they are.  Like, why am I one of the moms born in America, surrounded with endless possibilities while other moms are born in Haiti surrounded by helplessness? 

I try to imagine my life in their shoes.  I sit for a moment and feel the scorching heat bearing down on my own body as I work all day to earn just a few pennies.  These pennies are not extra or nonessential that I can put towards a gym membership or to make my home look more like the pictures in the pottery barn catalog.  This money is strictly, always, and only for food...food to quiet the hunger pains of my children...food that is the difference in my child's life or death.  As I sit in the heat working all day, I never imagine things like a new pair of shoes or a nice new dress for myself.  All I can hear are the voices of my hungry children.  My mom reflex drives me to consume my thoughts with food and the fight to keep my children alive.

These are real hardships that real moms live every day all over the world.  When I take a good, long, serious look at the reality of these moms lives, any hint of pride connected to the comforts and ease of my life, which according to the world qualifies me as having a “terrific life,” suddenly is flattened and I start asking God to take everything He's given me to help fix the brokenness in the lives of the moms and the people I know in Haiti.  How can I live a "terrific life" when I can hear the voices of hungry children living in tents?  I have no answers.  Only Jesus.  Jesus.  Jesus I call on your Name.  Jesus only You can help.  Jesus only You can fix this.  Jesus please help.

 

The fact is there is a reflex action deeply-rooted in the heart of every single mom in the world to feed their hungry children.  First world vs third world…it doesn’t matter.  A mom is a mom and we instinctively do whatever it takes to keep the little bellies of our children full and happy.  It’s just much easier for some of us than others.  The response required by a 3^rd world mom vs a 1^st world mom looks and feels completely different. 

I’m totally not comfortable with this difference…you know, that some of us have it easy while others are walking in misery.  And, I’m not just talking about the suffering moms.   It’s the dads, children, grandparents, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles…it’s God’s people of all ages…severely suffering.   

I don’t think we are supposed to be comfortable with this.   Galatians 6:10 tells us, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

I imagine if I were poor.  How then would I want to be cared for?  How would I want my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to respond to me in my suffering?   Clearly, I would want help getting my basic needs met when natural disasters strike, when I fall victim of corrupt governments, when struggles arise from poverty, lack of education, or being orphaned.  Would I feel like I was at the mercy of the rich man or would my needs be satisfied by the love and provisions from the body of Christ?  

Pastor Nahum and his orphans and many of the people of his village exist in the pain that accompanies the 3^rd world country of Haiti where they live.  They are our brothers and sisters in Christ.  They need the church to respond.  They need to see the love of Jesus in us.  May we never become desensitized to hearing and seeing pictures of little orphaned children living in tents.  It’s not ok.  Pastor Nahum’s orphans are real children who live in hot tents and another hurricane season is quickly approaching.  I am praying for God’s mercy.  Please God show us your mercy and be a shield to these precious children.  Pastor Nahum, his family, all of his orphans, the people in his church and his village need the church to faithfully pray for them.  Will you pray and believe with us for God to complete the construction of their desperately needed orphan home?  

May the cries for help from our hurting brothers and sisters in Christ trigger in us, as the church, an instant response to move with a Jesus love on their behalf.  The suffering of our sisters and brothers is a stimulus that when a healthy church sees this, they will respond with a reflex action...the action of 1 John 3:16, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."  Jesus, give us strong reflexes.