I'm in Doha airport, awaiting for my connecting flight. After 3 weeks of mission, I'm going home at last. I can't wait to be with my family. Patiently I let the hours pass, in anticipation to hold my loved ones again. It's not easy being away from family.
While on mission, I get to meet people who are away from their spouse and kids. Filipinos who work abroad to better provide for their families at the cost of being apart. Around 3,400 Filipinos leave the country everyday to work abroad. Around 1,750 of them go to Middle Eastern countries. How hard must it be for them. Many even take big risks staying in a foreign land, without legal papers, hoping for amnesty and approval from government.
Poverty has driven many Filipino families to be apart. Greed, corruption, disunity, and a lack of love and sharing, has resulted to many families in poverty. Others blame it on the population, i blame it on our own sinfulness. The greatest wealth of a nation is its people. Life is a gift from God.
Abortion, divorce, and other anti-family policies have greatly affected many first world countries. There are underpopulated countries that give much care and incentive to families with more children. For each child under 18, the parents get an allowance. Maternal leave can be as long as 2 years. Rich countries are realizing the tragedy of the reality of negative population growth rates. They do not have enough young people to support and replace an aging population. When a people embraces worldly thinking and rejects God's wonderful plan, the unnatural happens.
If our sinfulness is the cause of our poverty, then what we need as a people is a formation of our values, recovery of our morality, a proactivity of our faith. Let those who work to bring Christ to others in words and actions continue with zeal and passion. We bring Christ to one person at a time, one family at at time, one community at a time. It is a tough and challenging task to conquer poverty, but we will not stop hoping. One day, maybe in our children's lifetime, no family has to be apart because of poverty. Many Filipinos will come home and be reunited with the people closest to their hearts.
"Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you: Your sons come from afar, and your daughters in the arms of their nurses. Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow, For the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you. (Isaiah 60:4-5)"
3 comments:
amen! have a safe journey kirby back to the arms of your loved ones. this entry touched my heart, grabe!
you're probably back already. welcome back! Nice family picture kirbs.
Sadly, there are those like me, who would rather choose to work abroad to be far away from family. :-(
Hi Steph! Our family is God's gift to us. They may not be perfect. They may have different ways of showing their love to us (ways we may not understand). But I believe they have the best intentions for us. When my dad passed away last December, I realized that I may not have hugged him as much or said 'I love you' as often. What I know is that even if we have our differences, it will not change the fact that my parents brought me into this world. That I am thankful for. God bless.
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