Jesus and the blind man

I've been reading about poverty and disability for a project I'm hoping to work on. Man, it is a stark reminder of the impact that poverty has upon every life decision you can make, life is a lot, lot harder if you are poor and have a disability.

Feeling overwhelmed by all the problems in the world - how can I even begin to make a dent on these or in my family. No, I thought, hang on, I have thought about this stuff before. The point is not to get overwhelmed by everything in the world, the point is, to do something, however small, not nothing. Right, I can involve myself and my family in learning about issues of poverty, disability and link it to our faith- what does Jesus have to say?

The story of the blind man keeps leaping into my mind, so I'm going from there. I can't stop thinking about the man calling out, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me".

Family Fun Night Idea#1
1. Clear the floor of sharp furniture and lurking toys,
2. sweep or vacuum if necessary, or if time!
3. Blindfold each family member (not the baby perhaps)
4. Throw lollies around, or slightly hide them under the couch cushions,
5. Hunt for lollies, save them up for dessert.

Try to eat dinner still blindfolded. Here are some ideas for discussion:
What would it be like to be blind?
Are there any things you might get better at is you were blind? Could there be any good things?

You know, in Jesus' time there were blind people. If you are blind it is hard to care for your family by working, you need others to help you, or you need to beg to get money. Here's what the bible says... Read Luke 18:35-42, or tell it in your own words, or something in between.
What do you think about what Jesus did and said? What do you think the man did and said?

Do you know what makes people blind today? People can be born that way, disease, malnutrition, injury.
God is still at work today, here is a story about Niry from Madagascar and about how she has been helped to see.

(I've taken this story from the CBM website, go and have a look for more information)

Niry's Story:
"When Niry was brought from Madagascar to a CBM eye clinic, her eyes were weeping uncontrollably.

She was at the end stage of a disease caused by Vitamin A deficiency.

In fact, our ophthalmologist described Niry’s eyes as melting. One eye was already lost.

Thankfully, Niry received treatment straight away in the form of massive

doses of Vitamin A and a nutrition program to improve her health.

In just a few days the sight in her remaining eye was saved.

Niry is proof of the difference you can make in a child’s life simply be providing Vitamin A."

These CBM people are being like Jesus hands and feet to Niry.

How would you like to respond today? pray, draw a picture, something else? (I'm deliberately trying not to tell my kids how to respond. I would like to have a discussion, with my own response as one in the mix, let's see how that goes!)

People are surprising

I was reminded tonight of the challenge of how we view people different to ourselves. My eldest chose, "Children just like me" by Anabel Kindersley and Barnabas Kindersley, as his bed time story. I love this book. It has wonderful photographs of children and the things/people in their lives. It reports information about different children, their families, food they eat, schools they go to, games they play in a non-judgemental, level playing field kind of way, no one way of living is presented as being better than another.

I have been thinking about ways to challenge my kids stereotypes about people different to ourselves. My eldest has been trying to make sense of the way in which people live and the way for him to do this is to think that the way we do it is good, and the way other people do it is due to some sort of deficit; "they don't know how to..." This is a trap for us too, it is easy to think that the way we live is full of positives and 'the way to do it', and that other people's way of living is not as good. All people have strengths and deficits, even us.

Many people do live very different lives to us: they might live in a one roomed house, they might be farmers, they might not always have enough to eat, they might make their own clothes, they might go to school for more (or less) of the day than we do, they might eat more junk food... The list could go on indefinitely. BUT people, whether they are rich or poor, formally educated or not, urban or rural dwellers, are resilient, creative, enterprising, clever, AMAZING. They might find a solution to a problem I certainly couldn't imagine, they might be very resourceful or audacious. People are surprising. I'm trying to talk about this to expand my kid's world when we talk about how other's live. It is important to see how we might learn from others no matter what they're like. "Children just like me", is a good book to share too, it helps us to see other kids as kids, to see that, although people are different, there are lots of things the same as well; they all like to play with their friends, family is important, all have favourite foods.

Children Just Like Me

"A unique photographic celebration of children around the world. Through colourful pictures and children's own words, readers learn about the dreams and beliefs, hopes and fears and day-to-day events in the lives of children across the globe. For young readers between the ages of 7 and 15"