Not That Important

Devotion for the week...

Today is Thanksgiving here in Canada, and I'm giving thanks for the wonderful turkey dinner we ate yesterday at my sister-in-law's house, a turkey dinner that I didn't have to cook! 

Leading up to Thanksgiving, both our school and our church have had food drives for our local food bank, like many other places do. It's always beautiful to see the accumulated donations, but also sobering to know there are families who wouldn't eat without those donations.

Our food bank runs a used clothing store that funds the food bank (in addition to donations), and Aiden and Zach have both spent summers working there. I remember asking Aiden once what actually goes into the food hamper a family receives. Though he did list out the various categories of things they try to cover in each hamper, his initial response was, "Not enough to last until they get the next one." Doesn't that make your heart hurt?

In Galatians, Paul tell us to "Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important" (Galatians 6:2-3). I have to admit I love this passage for the real-talk style 'You are not that important.' It feels like that line should be delivered by a sassy friend who might laugh as she says it, but you both know she's speaking truth at the same time. 

Sharing each other's burdens can be applied in so many ways. Sometimes it might mean picking up some extra peanut butter or cereal to give to the food bank. Other times it might mean sitting with someone who is grieving. Right now it might look like sending quilts to those who are distributing them to people who lost everything in the recent hurricanes.

No matter what it looks like on the outside, though, it always starts with an acknowledgement that we are not so important that we are above helping others. 

PS. I've written about this verse in Galatians before.