An Orange
by Song of Light (Lindy Morelli)
With all that has been tragically happening in Haiti, in Syria, and in the many other troubled places in the world, I was feeling their pain somehow, if I could even presume to say such a thing. I was picturing all the people on the streets in desperate, weary, bedraggled crowds, so lost and hopeless, with no food, no running water, and no clothes. In my mind I was seeing the children, hungry and so frightened. People: the old, ill, and wretched, just turned out on the street.
I was thinking about eating an orange – so luscious is its juicy, plump texture, and such plenty and abundance surrounds me to think I can actually eat this whole orange by myself, and that there will be a whole bag of them in the refrigerator!
It pains me to think what it would be like if there were only one section of this orange to eat, one little tiny wedge. What if it had to be split into many small pieces to be distributed among several very starving and thirsty people, and that one bite of orange was all we were going to get to eat until who knows when? I thought about and felt that agony in my heart, and thought about how one crust of bread, or about how one section of a delicious orange would be so precious and priceless to the people in Haiti and elsewhere.
The contrast of how there is so much abundance in one place and so much deep, aching need in another – I thought about that, and about the true desperation it creates to have no water, no food!
It is easy to take our daily bread for granted, and to be indifferent about the needs of the poor. It is simple to just slip into expecting all these things just to come out of nowhere. But all the abundant blessings, both material and spiritual, come from God, who is gracious and good. And oh, how I want to share them, especially with the poorest of the poor, whoever and wherever they may be.
“People of the West,” as Mother Theresa said, “are poor because they suffer from not knowing they are loved; they need faith desperately, they need renewed hope and love.”
May I share what I have from moment to moment in gratitude, and savor every blessing with thankfulness and generosity, as I do each section of an orange.