Ty’s Blog
It’s late.
You had a long day. You worked hard and you played hard.
You come into the kitchen to turn off the light because it is on, wanting to save energy and money. Lo and behold, there is a plate full of shredded chicken from dinner left open on a plate, a huge pot left on the stove and many dirty dishes untouched in the sink.
You do the good thing and take a deep breath and begin to do dishes and put stuff away. You toss the left overs in the trash(which have now been left out for hours), wash the plates and silverware, and put the pot into the fridge to have the next day.
Yeah, good job! You did a good deed and you smile.
Jesus (our translator) walks into the kitchen, you are glad because his English is pretty good and so you can talk.
“Where is the food on the counter?” he asks.
“Oh I tossed it, it was sitting out on the counter,” you reply, not thinking.
“Oh no we don’t do that. On Saturday when we go to the colonies to do ministry you will see how people eat out of the dumpsters and search the gutters for food and clothes and stuff,” he explains.
Your heart sinks, you feel terrible. In your thoughts of “it’s old food, it’s old nasty counter top sitting chicken,” I tossed it. “You throw counter top food out. You throw food that is forgotten out.”
Not in Honduras. Millions of people live day to day not knowing when or where their next meal will be, searching and hoping that they will hit the jackpot by a whole sweatshirt or pants or majority of a meal that is not too rotten to eat to fill there empty shrunken stomachs. I tossed it without thinking. I tossed “garbage” that was not. It is amazing at how thoughtless I can be, but I will do better. I will use this opportunity to grow. This makes me think of home and how I can do a better job of taking care of my own things and be more respectful of the blessings I have been given. Maybe being more cautious at home so that I do not have a ton of left overs, maybe inviting someone else over to eat. It sort of brings on a whole new meaning when your mom said, “there are starving children in Honduras”…maybe that was Africa… but you know the expression; knowing that I will be seeing starving children in two days’ time changes that thought. I am already being changed for life in just these few precious days and I know that I will continue to change. It makes you count your blessings even for the simplest things. I know and hope that I am making an impact into these kids’ lives and hopefully a lifetime impact because I know that they are changing me for life.
