No Egos Allowed

Had a great experience feeding the hungry. I definitely struggle with the concept of judgment in those situations though. The experience isn't about power for me. It's not..."Hey we have food and you don't...so, we are going to offer it to you." For me, it's the recognition that the homeless, transient, mentally ill, on and on and on...sometimes assert themselves in ways that might be off putting.

 But, I feel that the issue there...the aggression or the confrontation is in attempt to take back or feel power. The fact that we have food or homes or cars, housing, jobs etc. doesn't make us more powerful. It simply makes us more obligated. 

S

ometimes or quite possibly many times, the voices of people in these situations seem "silly" or don't make sense. But, people really just have a need to be "heard" or listened to. What they are saying may not make sense to us intellectually. Remember, approximately 25% of the homeless population suffers from some sort of mental illness. (I might also suppose that a large part of the general population does as well) But, it's irrelevant that what they are articulating makes sense to us. 

Perhaps the gift today wasn't the food. Perhaps the gift today wasn't even to the homeless population in the park. Perhaps the gift was the realization that we all want to be recognized, heard, and connected with. Perhaps the gift wasn't for the homeless at all. Perhaps it was a gift from God that Julia and I (along with some other friends in Christ) were able to identify with human beings that we might not have otherwise met. Could it be possible that the light and teaching was to us?