Advocating

On my purse is a Forgotten Voices pin. I was thinking the other day, that despite the fact that it has been on there for months now, not a single person has asked me about it. And, since no one has asked, I haven't said anything. Never once have I told someone who didn't ask me about it about Forgotten Voices, despite the wonderful work they're doing to help orphan kids who desperately need help, who need our voices so people know they need help. I found myself wondering why it's so difficult to bring up when there have been other things I've advocated for easily-gmail, meet-up groups. . . At my grandmother's the other day, my mom was once again telling someone how wonderful badger balm was. "I sound like an advertisement" she said. "Why is it so easy", I wondered, "to advocate for those things?" And then it struck me. People need them. No one wants dry skin, we all use e-mail. People are happy to listen to our suggestions that might meet their needs.

And then, I remembered something else. A scene from years ago. I was sitting in the car in the grocery store parking lot. My Mom had probably run in for groceries. A woman came by, pushing her loaded shopping cart, a little child in the seat. I was filled with a sudden realization that these people had eternal souls and needed to know God's plan so they could spend eternity with him.

That's what I'm reminding myself of now. Some things are more difficult for us to advocate. We're afraid of being rejected, or laughed at by people who don't want to hear our message. But, they still need to hear it, much more than they need another remedy for dry skin, a more convenient e-mail provider, a great way to meet people with similar interests. They need our message, and that should give us the boldness to tell them.

"Therefore, we are the Messiah's representatives, as though God were pleading through us. We plead on the Messiah's behalf: "Be reconciled to God!" 2 Corinthinas 5:20