Tea for me, food for them. {What One Thing Would You Give Up?}

I click the screen and see the Somali faces gaunt, hollow eyes of hunger.

Just this morning I told Jeff I need to lose a couple pounds.

Isn’t this a crazy world?

Every person on this planet fights a battle. Just different kinds depending where we live.  We in America battle the beast of consumerism, materialism, overindulgence, comfort-addiction.

Or am I the only one?

Every day the beast of my flesh must be slain.

You too?

You know what’s funny? We can actually help each other fight the other’s battle. 

Perhaps we often think that we can help Somalia.  Perhaps we think they need us. (And we can and they do!)

But think for a moment how we need them. How they can help us. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that our adventure this past year of pushing open the doors of giving has helped us more than anyone else. Other have received the donations but the real gift has been ours.

When we willingly help fight the beast of hunger that Somalis battle we break the back of our own beasts: consumerism, materialism, overindulgence, comfort-addiction. Beasts are slain exponentially.

By us helping them, they are helping us. 

And we do need help, friends. Are you kidding? I couldn’t even kick my coffee habit on my own!  Which is why when I received the email from World Vision Bloggers — an awesome group of people committed to blogging about poverty across our world and raising awareness for those in need (us all) — I was thrilled. Yes, the Somalis would help me! 

How? By providing the perfect opportunity to say no to myself and yes to them. We’ve already discussed the facts (F is for Famine, Fundraisers, Fourteen-year-olds and fifty-one photos), but here’s a refresher:

• 12.4 million are affected in the region
• More than 35% of all children in the region are now facing emergency levels of malnutrition
• Starvation is a real threat in famine-declared areas of Somalia
• Some 30,000 children have already lost their lives
• Worst drought in 60 years
• World Vision’s teams in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are responding to this crisis with food, water, blankets and other critical needs for families

Ready for the fun part? I invite you to take part in World Vision’s 3-day awareness campaign Famine No More.  Check out World Vision blogger Joy Bennett’s blog asking What one thing would you give up? so that you can simply send $10 to those in need. (click on graphic.)

See what I mean? We both have battles — we are helping theirs and they are helping ours. When we go without we are taking ground in the battle against consumerism and self-indulgence. Friends, we need this. We need them.

So what would I give up? I couldn’t think of anything at first. We live a pretty pared-down life and already give to World Vision on a regular basis, so I thought I could just add a little bonus to our next gift. But I wanted to do something that would daily remind me to put someone else above myself. (Goodness knows I can use some of that!)  Then I thought of it — coffee. By quitting coffee for a few weeks I could remind myself every single morning that these Somali people are precious in the sight of God. That they matter, that their well-being is more important than my favorite morning perk. It’s silly perhaps, but I know of nothing else that cuts closer to the heart than caffeine. 🙂 (For the record, I’m not against drinking coffee–it’s just that it can save me a few bucks and remind me every morning … you get the idea.)

So I wrote myself a note this past weekend, taped it to my counter, a gentle morning reminder for my head and heart: Tea for me, food for them. By drinking tea (I have loads of it on hand already) I can send that $10, but more importantly, send my heart and my prayers. 

What one thing would you give up? Once you decide, go ahead and text in your $10 donation to “FAMINE” to 20222 or visit WorldVision.org.

Lastly, PLEASE leave a comment here and let us know what you did! It’s always more fun to do these things together, so please take a second and let us know you joined in the fun.  Have a blog? Link up here, or to Joy’s post, and share the What One Thing Would You Give Up challenge with those in your sphere!

And now, I’m off to drink my tea. Thank you, dear friends, for reading.