I Could Have Had Dirt Cakes For Dinner

"They would get SO hungry, that they would take dirt and water and make cakes of mud. Then they would eat them, so that they could get enough relief that they could finally fall asleep."

Those may not be her EXACT words, but Karen Kingsbury said something very close to this in a speech I heard her give several years ago. She was talking about her sons, that were adopted from a Haitian orphanage.

I could have had dirt cakes for dinner, but instead, I had leftover steak. Did you catch that? Leftover steak, as in we had more than enough the first time we had steak THIS WEEK.

I can not get rid of the image her words burned into my heart. Nor can I imagine children so hungry that they actually eat mud cakes just to stem their hunger pains.

I often think of Karen's words, when my children do not like something that is on their plate, or even worse when they complain about where we are going out to eat. I am a picky eater myself, but believe me when I say that I will eat ANY food over mud cakes ANY day.

I am thankful that I was born in America, and I am thankful that I have never had to go without basic needs. Wants, sure, but needs, never. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the poverty that many people in the world face. I have been to a third world country, I have looked poverty in the eye, and then, I've gotten on an airplane and come back to my home, and all of the comforts it affords.

Today, I heard a precious missionary tell a story of a friend of hers. A woman who had very little. A woman we would consider very poor. And by earthly standards she was poor, but, by spiritual standards, she was rich. Rich in love, and in faith. As is often the case with Christians who have nothing. They are often some of the most joyful people alive. They find their joy not in fleeting material belongings, but in a never changing God.

So often I take how blessed I am for granted. I complain about things that are minuscule compared to conditions that other people face as normal on a daily basis. Too often, I allow things (or the lack of things) to clutter up my life - spiritually.

I don't want to allow things to hinder my faith in God, or my relationship with Him. I want to look to Him to supply ALL my needs. I want a faith that is not shaken by the economy, or job security, or health reports. I want an active, living, faith. This has really been a burden on my heart lately, and a lesson God is trying to get through my stubbornness, because it seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life lately...the message from the missionary, a book I'm reading, a Sunday School lesson, a Bible study lesson.

So, my prayer is that I will complain less (both in word and attitude), and be thankful, and grateful more. That I will not take for granted even the smallest things that the Lord blesses me with, and that I will teach and train my children to do the same.

Philippians 2:14-16
Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; 16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

No more complaining, because we COULD be eating dirt cakes.