Hope and Lace

Ezekiel 16:49 (NIV)

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.

She was just fifteen and had just graduated from a lace-making school in Brugge, far different from the universities we now know. These schools were more like children's sweat shops, with the emphasis on sweat. She was actually a bit old to be in such a school. 5 years-old girls were attending it, hunching over lace pillows twelve hours a day.

Lace, the latest vogue, had begun to be popular in the 16th century. Even two centuries later, men favored giving lace items to their beloved ones, and it was always being received with sheer admiration. And women weren't the only ones to adorn themselves with lace. Men, especially those in high society, used it to dress up their attire as well!

Unfortunately, those who toiled making these precious gifts were totally ignored. Thousands of girls and women sacrificed their health to make this delicate lace, and despite long hours, they hardly made enough to make ends meet. Why? Because the stores naturally received a decent profit for selling the lace and those who served as the go-betweens between the workers and the merchants also took 15-35% of the profits. In the end, the ones who made the lace, and thus deserved to profit from it, were paid an outrageously small salary. They were generally earning less than half of what a regular factory worker was making.

Think about the poor people we all come into contact with each day, do we have compassion for them.  Are we like the priests and Levites in Jesus' parable "The Good Samaritan" (See Luke 10: 30-35) and just pass them by?

How would Jesus have reacted to such a plea?

If we don't have the luxury of spending time with the poor in order to feed them a decent meal, why not support through monetary means to one of the organizations that feed and house the homeless?  

How many poor have we helped so far? Unless we live on an otherwise uninhabited island, there are poor around us everywhere. They are hungry for relief from their circumstances, and even more so, they hunger for hope. Will we provide them with what they hunger for?

Love is always the answer. If it were not for the fact that love came down from heaven, where would we be? Where would our hope be? If love had not been willingly to die on a cross for each one of us, where would we turn? Love is the answer to all problems, our own included.

Dear Lord, we pray today that we would show Your great love to all those that come into our live. We pray that our eyes would be open to the many needs around us. In Jesus Name, Amen.