Last month I stepped beyond words into commitment. It wasn’t the first time, and it won’t be my last. Still, it felt huge, exciting and scary. Over the last few months, I have written several articles about our need to respond as individuals to the Syrian refugee crisis. As a writer and speaker I know the value of words, but I’m aware that words must issue in action.
Being a woman of faith, I have read the words from the book of James 2:26, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” I know the value of showing my faith through my actions. It was time for me as an individual to live what I was preaching. I knew I couldn’t care for all of the refugees fleeing violence around the world. I knew I couldn’t care for all of the refugees that our government is bringing to Canada, or even to Peterborough. What I could do, and what Tom and I both did, was join with a group of twelve individuals, all of whom have pledged to support one government-arranged refugee family with practical action like transportation, finding housing, and friendship.
Yes, this is only one family, one tiny drop in the ocean of refugees. As Mother Theresa so eloquently told us:
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.”
I am grateful to God, for leading me into this exciting new adventure.
“But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” (James 1:25)