At Compelled By Love, our mission and our heart is to see things made right where poverty and brokenness exist. The events of the last few months, and the last week, have highlighted the incredible brokenness in our world, and in us as human beings.
The wave of heartfelt outcry in the United States right now over systemic racism and injustice highlights what we see across the globe. Simply consider the impact and experience of COVID-19 and lockdown on African nations as compared to our own, and the fact that we are in the midst of reconciliation week here in Australia, attempting to acknowledge and move forward on our own dark, racist history.
At this time, we stand with our fellow humanity across the world that is oppressed and suffering at the hands of indignity, injustice and inequality, and we seek to be aware of our own privilege and the responsibility to raise our voice, and put forth our hands, in order to be part of a movement of change.
At CBL, one of the most wonderful and special opportunities we as an organisation have, is the incredible privilege of hearing people’s stories, and sharing in their journeys. The work we get to be a part of first begins with listening, building understanding, acknowledging and empathising. One of the most powerful ways to give dignity is to listen, and to enable someone to be heard - to let their story be heard, their heart be heard, their feelings be heard. We don’t need to have the perfect words to say back, or a solution to their situation.
We just need to care enough to stop, and be still long enough to listen, truly hear, and allow our hearts to be moved.
Listening can be an act of generosity, as much as giving finances. So many of you joined with us during 21 Days of Hope, as we took up the challenge to #practicegenerosity, even in days like these. We invite you to continue with us, practicing generosity not only with physical resources, but with our very selves – giving our time, our attention, our ears, our hearts. I hope, pray and believe that change is coming – the best way to be a part of that change is to first humble ourselves to listen and understand, to hear and acknowledge.
Inequality – on a whole lot of different levels and with various roots – exists not isolated in individual nations, but is a global issue that is systemic in our world. We’ve been so inspired seeing you join together with us as we’ve reached out during this pandemic – recognising that others are mothers, fathers, children, just like we are, but without the privilege we have (we’re really excited to share with you the full impact of that soon). We encourage you to keep going, to keep practicing generosity towards your neighbour – understanding that your neighbour is the person who lives in the house next to yours, but it’s also the person marching for justice in the face of oppression, and the mother trying to feed her children during lockdown. Together, we can continue to make a difference as we practice generosity.
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