A Very Relavent Sermon

First, I would like it if you would take a moment to read the sermon that was given at my church last Sunday. I, like many, am scrambling now to see what I can to do to help relief efforts in Haiti but it is indeed MUCH too late. So often, we are MUCH too late. It is so much easier to turn a blind eye until it all comes crashing down rather than getting in there and getting dirty before things reach that critical point of shock and "how did we ever let this happen?"

Just a couple weeks ago I happened on a blog I was writing while taking my doula training in Montreal. I'd written a post about my dreams after my first doula gathering that you can read here. I was full of ideas to help in making the world a better place. I was thrilled to have found a student in the class that shared my vision of going (with our families) to poverty stricken areas to help with birth/medical care. We talked about it over the course of the next year but it came down to it just being an IMPOSSIBLE feat. I mean, I had two young children and a husband that would say "yes, when you can make money doing that you can go because there is NO WAY we could ever afford to do that now." It was just MUCH TOO HARD! I was also thrilled with the prospect of working with the poorest in our own community and while I attended a few births through Montreal Birth Companions I just COULDN'T continue. We didn't have a lot ourselves at the time, and helping these women was costing ME money. Doula work was a "hobby" and not valued within my immediate environment and giving my time away was not acceptable. It was MUCH TOO HARD.

So often, it is MUCH TOO HARD. So often I have these big ideas (becoming a midwife, traveling the world, helping where I can....completing my homeopath training and joining Homeopaths without Borders, etc) but then think how incredibly hard and inconvenient it would be for myself and my family. How IMPOSSIBLE. Sure, I think about the people suffering, but despite being touched, it is their pain and it gets left to "others" to help. I've grown over the years to not think big dreams but only think here and now of my own immediate family. It helps one from being overwhelmed with the sufferings of the rest of the world. Until things blow up one can live mostly in blissful ignorance. IT'S EASY!

At what point is enough, enough? At what point does one say "this has to stop NOW! Not with someone else but starting with ME?" We don't have to take huge steps but even the little things make a difference. Why do damage control years down the line when the boy down the road has become an addict or arsonist? Why not help that family in need right now? Why not work to implement programs for the youngest/poorest in our own communities that might need a hand? Why do we wait and then wonder how things have gotten to the point they've reached? Sure, IT'S EASY for us but what about everyone else?

Think, but then reach out (however you can), before it is too late......