I started some studies this year in community development, and am currently researching an assignment on ‘the potential contribution of lament in community development.’ It’s raining outside, perhaps a little inside too, and this emerged in the mix:
As I attempt a cheap plastic plaster
On the mountainous boil of the poor,
I cry out “How long O my God,
Will you lay there, asleep, silent, snore?”
Then I remember the ways
You’ve acted times past,
And I glance again in their eyes.
Seeing you, silently pleading with me,
My question’s U-turn realise.
Your arms still embracing,
Your hand on my shoulder,
We start on the boil once more.
I don’t know how we’ll do it,
Or how, when it’ll end,
But it’s a plaster I heard you ask for.
patmos 
You got me thinking, Son! Just wondering …. is there a deeper meaning beyond the “plaster that was asked for” as proof that God does listen …. or does it go beyond that; a “Band-Aid” solution to a huge problem; or, perhaps that we sometimes only ask for “plaster” when we need “intravenously fed anti-biotic”. Love. Dad
Hi Dad,
Thanks for your thoughts and interest. I think for me ‘the plaster that was asked for’ represents a tension that I often feel; I believe what I am doing is where God would have me, but at the same time it often feels like what I’m doing will have little effect in the scheme of things. So I often feel overwhelmed by questions like: ‘which person should I help first?’ or ‘do we help a few significantly or many slightly?’ and in that way it feels like I don’t have the resources or the skills to properly ‘tend the boil.’ But I need to keep coming back to the place where I accept that I am not God, but am invited to participate, if only in a small way, in God’s redemptive work in the world. Maybe my job isn’t to ‘lance the boil’ or prescribe the medicine; maybe my job is to simply ‘attempt the plaster’ that I’ve been asked to provide, even if at times it seems cheap and plastic, pointless to me.
I hope that makes sense… Thanks again for your love and your thoughts…
Love ya,
Clint.
Yeah, I do get it Clint. I sometimes too feel over-whelmed by all the needs of others that tug at me. And then I go into “over-drive”. And then I spin out of control ….. and are humbled once again …. and God is reminding me that I am only human and should leave my pride …. and just take a little bite at the problem … because that seems to be all I can handle.
I love you son …firstly for who you are …. and also am proud of the work you do …. but please look after yourself and the ones that need you as husband and Dad.
Much love
Dad
Hi Clint,
Thanks for your post yesterday; it reminded me of times where I was disheartened by poverty, and other times encouraged by those living in poverty.
On my return flight from Africa in 1999, after seeing people eating scraps off smouldering rubbish piles and children scavenging in the street, my thoughts were that helping others was a waste of time, an endless task not worth attempting. Yet, when I came home, reminded by photos of the children in the orphanage, remembering their love of God had opened my eyes to see Jesus.
***
Another time, on a visit Michelle and I made to a widow with 5 children, joined by a group of women in Becoro, Dili, East Timor, on Tuesday 15th February 2004. (from my little notebook ☺)
Our translator (trust bank co-ordinator) told us stories of these women, many who had lost husbands in the Independence conflict, who were able to make a living in this poor district of Dili to provide food, shelter and an education for their children.
Before leaving, we joined these women in prayer. I had kept my eyes open; some were Roman Catholic, signing the cross, others Protestants with folded hands, and while I didn’t understand, I sensed they all had a closeness with God. As we finished the prayer of thanks (I understood terima kasih), saw the conditions in which they lived and the poverty they endured, they were teaching me.
The words of Jesus came into my mind ‘blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God’ and ‘whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’….could it be that when we assimilate with the poor, we receive Jesus. Do the poor teach us about Jesus?
Jesus says ‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me….. ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters you did it to me.’
***
If we’re ever overwhelmed by the magnitude of poverty, of where to start, who to help, what to do… it’s not always what you do, it’s just that you do it in obedience to Jesus, who surrendered all for you and me.
Love Daniel
Amen.