Cold Hands, Warm Hearts

"If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well, keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good does that do?"  James 2:16

When I was seven years old, the same age my daughter is now, my family lived in an old farm house out in the country.  In the winter, my parents heated the home with a wood-burning stove in the basement that sent heat up into all the rooms on the first floor.  When it was really cold, we would close off some of the rooms downstairs and use kerosene heaters in just a few rooms to supplement the wood-burning stove.  On the second floor, we had a central heat and air unit, and that is where we slept.  I remember coming downstairs on those cold winter mornings and how opening the doors to one of the "closed off" rooms would take your breath away because they were so freezing cold. 

For people who grew up in the country, that scene doesn't sound too strange.  That's just what life was like then, and that's just how things were done in the country.  I remember well the contrast between the rooms we heated and the rooms we didn't.  It certainly gave us an appreciation for the warm rooms when we had to go practice the piano in the freezing living room!  After practicing the piano, I would come into the kitchen and put my cold hands on my mother's warm cheeks.  She would hug me tight and say, "Cold hands, warm heart!"

If you have ever been outside in really cold weather, you know the comforting feeling of walking into a warm house and warming your hands by the heater.  If you've ever had the opportunity to be outside for a long period of time and walked into a cold building, you know the inherent disappointment you can't help feeling.  For many of our neighbors, there are no "heated rooms."  They don't close off rooms in their houses to conserve heat because all their rooms are cold.  There simply is no heat because there is no power after the utlities have been shut off, or there is no money for kerosene heaters, or, worst of all, there is no house at all.

This week, the Athens community had a blast of "arctic air" that hit our area, and temperatures dipped into the low 20s with wind chills in the single digits.  At my house, the kids got really excited about the possibility of snow, we all hoped for a delayed start to school, but no such luck.  We got up in our warm house, put on our warm shoes and coats, stuffed our cold hands into warm gloves, and headed out for school and work in our warm car.

Across town, a family's only heat source died.  This family already lived in a cold house, and to have no heat at all forced a truly desperate situation.  I can only imagine that the kids in this family were not excited about the possibility of snow.  Instead, they were huddled together under blankets, thinking warm thoughts and praying for school to start on time so they could at least be in a warm building.  Luckily, God lead us to help them with some temporary heaters so that they can be warm over this freezing weekend as part of our Mission Athens work.

This family is not the first we have met who have needed heat help this winter.  Just about every week, we have the opportunity to help with utility bills, temporary heaters, warm clothing, coats, blankets, etc.  As we work to meet these physical needs, it never ceases to amaze me how much I take for granted, and it never ceases to break my heart for those in our community living in poverty.  I saw on Facebook this week a question that stopped me in my tracks, "If you started over tomorrow with just the things you thanked God for today, what would you have?"

How often do we stop to thank God for the simple, everyday things in our lives?  A warm bed, a warm house, a warm coat, or most importantly, a warm hug from someone who loves us?  As we go throughout our busy lives, I am afraid that all too often we fail to see those living right here beside us in Athens, AL, who are missing some of these basic necessities, much less take the time to thank our Lord for providing them for us.  As hard as it is to imagine, there are children in our schools who don't have warm homes, don't have warm coats, and don't have warm hugs waiting for them at the end of a long week.

My prayer as we begin this new year is that God would warm our cold hearts and help us to see all the ways we can share the warmth of His abundant love with those hurting around us.  I pray He will fill my heart with gratitude for all He has given and help me to share it with those who need Him.  May He help my actions match my words and my works match my faith. May my cold hands be busy all year working for Him as my mouth sings His praises, and my heart is a warm reflection of His work. 

Dear Lord, please help us to open our eyes and see the needs that are all around us.  Give us the courage to do what we can to help our neighbors.  Help us to live our faith and show Your love to the world.  Help us to put actions behind our words and actively seek opportunities to warm the world with Your grace.  Light a fire within each of us to be the lights of the world and to see those whom we can help.  God, help us to feed the hungry, warm the cold, and love the lost as you have fed, warmed and loved us.