Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 149

Today's Daily 5:
  1. the feeling of relief that comes in the moment when you're finally able to just stop, because your energy is gone, and you'd been pushing through to get things done, but are about to collapse.  I felt that relief this afternoon, and spent the next two hours laying flat on my back.  It was relieving to just lay there, because I was totally spent, and while I could have pushed through, it wouldn't have been wise.
  2. a really tasty salad, with rotisserie chicken, and pomegranate seeds (yesterday I cut a pomegranate for the first time ever), and other tasty bits and pieces
  3. finishing a 60 day commitment to pray for a different nation each day
  4. mango juice, through a straw
  5. getting homework reading done on the bus this morning, meaning I could collapse this afternoon without dire consequences.

Haiti

A quick spin around the blog world will tell you that there's no shortage of posts about Haiti today.

It's been one year since the devastating earthquake, and there is still much to be done.

A year ago my heart broke for a nation I'd never seen.  I followed the story, I cried and prayed, even in my dreams.

And then slowly, it faded to a back burner.  Still something I was conscious of, watching the news for, but not a focus of waking moments.

Somehow I doubt that that was the case for those actually in Haiti.

And so today, I pause with so much of the world to remember, and to call attention again to a nation that continues to need our support and prayers.

I want to point you to this excellent blog post on Haiti's history, written a year ago by Steve Bell.

I want to point you, as well, to this challenging post written by Tony Campolo.  I'm not at all suggesting that North American aid organizations should leave Haiti.  I think they're likely doing very valuable work.  But I love Campolo's challenge to recognize the value of the Haitian contributions as well.

And mostly I want to call you again to consider the challenges that Haiti faces and continues to face. 

And I want to call you to lift this nation, and those who are working there up to the Father in prayer.

Change?

I laughed when this Garfield cartoon arrived in my inbox last week:


My sentiments exactly.

(Though, actually, it turns out that I'm getting much better at accepting change somewhat gracefully, instead of hating it and being forced, kicking and screaming, into it.)