There just isn't enough to go around

Times are tough all over. I spoke with each of my brothers last week on unrelated family matters and learned that both have recently endured a relatively extended period of unemployment, one due to injuries suffered while mowing his lawn, the other due to misfortunes in the stock market bringing about a down-sizing at his (now former) place of employment. Both have since returned to work, but belts remain tight as they struggle to regain lost ground. My sister has a similar tale of woe and my mother-in-law currently has four generations living under her roof.

Tough economic times bring about an unwelcome phenomenon I call the "nouveau-poor." Families who had never worried overmuch about the grocery bill before discover that the phrase "waste not, want not" has merit. They make the necessary discovery that the store brand sometimes really is just as good as the name brand product and that a broken shoelace is insufficient justification for a new pair of shoes. Suddenly, the premium cable channels aren't worth the cost and the whole family learns to live with the thermostat set five degrees higher in summer and five degrees lower in winter. The upside to deprivation is that, for the most part, these families, when prosperity returns, find a new level of generosity toward the less fortunate. Nothing like walking a mile in someone else's shoes to teach a lesson in humanity. I came upon a hard luck case earlier this year, and though I could not do much, I did what I could. In seeking further resources for this unfortunate, I discovered a hard truth. Some people take advantage of every source of benevolence available in a community.

I've heard this truth bemoaned by others -- as they close their checkbook or cupboard to a stated need, saying, "It's just the ne'er-do- wells taking advantage of us, again." I can understand their cynicism. It is discouraging to see someone use foodstamps to pay for their groceries, only to see that same individual load that bounty into a well-equipped newer model sport utility vehicle.

How disheartening it would be to deliver a holiday basket to a needy family, and in the process discover that this family has a nicer house, nicer furniture and nicer gifts than those you came to give. Yet they placed their family name on a community tree for assistance. It happens. It also happens that those who are truly in need are sometimes overlooked or reticent to speak their need, and therefore, their needs go unmet.

Our society holds the poor in low esteem. Many see poverty as a punishment for slothfulness, and sometimes, admittedly, it is the direct result of that lack of action. Oftentimes however, it is a cumulative outcome of several factors -- lack of education or opportunity for some, poor health, unemployment, or any number of financial reverses common in a modern society.

I don't think it is supposed to matter.

At least not from the perspective of the giver. We are ill-equipped for the kind of vision needed to determine the truth of need. We are, however, called upon to meet the need. Remember that, according to James, true religion is " ... to look after orphans and widows ... " (James 1:27). I think we can agree that our society, suffering daily from the effects of the disintegration of the family, the abolition of absolute truth and having trampled the integrity of vows and oaths in the dirt, has unwittingly redefined what it means to be an orphan or a widow.

So, I try not to let it bother me, when I see someone partaking of that meant for someone with a perceived truer or deeper need. I am not responsible for their actions and it is not up to me to police their conscience. After all, when it all comes down to it, I am not really serving them at all -- "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25:40) I try each day to look in my hand, see what God has placed there for me to do, and to do it to the best of my ability.

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

-- Dawn Cribbs has yet to achieve nouveau-riche status but has had some experience in the realm of the nouveau-poor.