To become part of the solution for a people or place we must identify with the very ones we are wanting to help. To pray solutions for a particular difficulty or stronghold we must identify with the trouble at hand.
To identify is to come into identity with.
The problem is that we like to stand back and throw suggestions into the trouble. But this only creates greater divide, it rarely accomplishes anything.
We may feel good for a time. And others may heed us for a time (if they have not yet had experience of real solutions, they may think that suggestions are it – they are not).
Those who enact solution are those who enter in and who identify with. They don’t talk about answers they become part of the answer.
We need more engagement. We don’t need your resources so much as we need your presence.
This would be true the world over.
But in the west, we tend to think that resources will fix things for people. And fixing things is conveniently how we stay distant, and safe, in dignity, and… ineffective.
Trouble upsets us. It brings us to tears, leaves us feeling hopeless, we may be confused on how to go forward, or we may just get stuck in anger.
All of this, is why we like suggestions lofted from afar. All of this, is why we would rather fix things than enter in. All of this, is why we like our distance and why, ultimately, we remain ineffective.
Our fear is that if we enter into the problem that we will be overwhelmed by the trouble and the pain and the loss. Yet, this is rarely the case. Will we have bad days when we cannot see our hand in front of our face? Absolutely.
But what will really happen is that an empowerment, a boldness, a clarity of thought and action will take hold that will galvanize our inner person (and our outer person) into a fellowship of action on behalf of our fellow humans. We will be alive like we have never known before.
We will weep deeply. We will love deeply. We will find and live joy and peace and gladness from places deep inside us that were previously untapped.
Live a solution for others. It is where life is.
The photo above is a friend Moses, such a great guy and a servant heart, he blesses and embraces all who come his way. This is a great and hilarious picture of him with all our bags back in September 2015 in Uganda.
Cyndy Lavoie 