{"id":1726,"date":"2011-09-23T09:13:36","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T13:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/?p=1726"},"modified":"2011-09-23T09:13:36","modified_gmt":"2011-09-23T13:13:36","slug":"making-a-big-show-of-our-tiny-gifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/09\/making-a-big-show-of-our-tiny-gifts.html","title":{"rendered":"Making a Big Show of our Tiny Gifts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you ever ask yourself the question, “Am I doing enough?”<\/p>\n

I’m not talking about sheer busy-ness–but are you doing enough of what really matters? How would you know if you were? And can’t you always do a little bit more?<\/p>\n

It’s a haunting question for me. One that I think about when buying a coffee at Starbucks or going to the movies or buying a new book.<\/p>\n

I think of the end of Schindler’s List<\/em>\u00a0where Oskar Schindler realizes his watch and gold pin could have saved a few more Jews from the concentration camps. Surrounded by over 1,000 survivors–alive because of his sacrifices–he is haunted by the idea that he might have saved just a few more…even one more.<\/p>\n

The emotional weight of that scene is tremendous. While some find it manipulative, I think it’s emotional power comes from the universality of the question: “Have I done enough?” \u00a0In some way, we can all access that question from our own perspective and in our own lives.<\/p>\n

Here is a thought-provoking article from The Oasis<\/a> blog. The author’s family is in the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia, and they are wrestling through many of the emotions and struggles inherent in that process. Missy writes:<\/p>\n

There is a major\u00a0dilemma\u00a0that we all must face as Christians at some point.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>As Americans, we are\u00a0ALL wealthy in comparison to the rest of this world.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>As Americans, we are known to the rest of this world as a “Christian nation”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Americans give to the hungry at a low percentage of\u00a0their GNP (gross national product) in comparison to other nations.\u00a0 What are we, as individual wealthy Christian Americans, telling the poverty-stricken world around us about Jesus\u00a0Christ?\u00a0 What are we telling the world about the Gospels?<\/p>\n

We are NOT the\u00a0<\/strong>widow giving up her two coins<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
We are the rich, making a big show of our tiny gifts.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Since WWII, trillions of dollars have been given in foreign aid to address the problems of hunger, of disease, of dirty water, and of education. As I mentioned in a previous post<\/a>, much of this is “bad aid” that fosters dependency. We have cut off the developing world from global trade and free markets that could help hardworking people transform themselves.<\/p>\n

So as the rich West, we may have trillions of dollars of aid to make a show of… What the poor really need are trade partners and free markets. That is the most liberating gift we could give!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The greatest gift we could give the developing world is a thriving system of trade that empowered the poorest and most vulnerable entrepreneurs–helping them earn a proper wage to become self-sufficient.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this regard, I think we are NOT doing enough. We are not opening these avenues of economic development fast enough…although they are coming. We do make a big deal about our “foreign aid” dollars, even though they are only about 1% of the federal budget.<\/p>\n

I encourage you to read all of Missy’s article here<\/a>, as it addresses many critical issues in adoption ethics, and personally think she lands on the right conclusion to all of this. (You’ll have to read it to see if you agree.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you ever ask yourself the question, “Am I doing enough?” I’m not talking about sheer busy-ness–but are you doing enough of what really matters? How would you know if you were? And can’t you always do a little bit more? It’s a haunting question for me. One that I think about when buying a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adoption","category-africa"],"yoast_head":"\nMaking a Big Show of our Tiny Gifts - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/09\/making-a-big-show-of-our-tiny-gifts.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making a Big Show of our Tiny Gifts - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you ever ask yourself the question, “Am I doing enough?” I’m not talking about sheer busy-ness–but are you doing enough of what really matters? 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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1726"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1733,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1726\/revisions\/1733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}