Dilapidated buildings, the stench of rubbish everywhere, cows wandering around the city, carts pulled by people, not horses, families living in "homes" the size of most Americans' bathrooms.
Last October, I traveled to Calcutta, India, to visit Anusha Dass, the 9-year-old girl I sponsor through Compassion International. The sights and sounds of that city stuck in my mind weeks after my visit. But there's one impression I got in Calcutta that will stay with me for a very long time.
The people have nothing, and yet have something so many people in wealthier nations don't have—family closeness. It was common to see an older child take the hand of a younger child and look out for him. Most families share a common bed. They know what it means to count on each other and stick together even in their desperate situations. They know they need each other to survive.
Seeing the families of Calcutta reminded me of something that happened when I was 16. One Sunday morning, our pastor in Franklin, Tennessee, preached a message on families. He talked about how easy it can be to take our families for granted. And he challenged us to tell our families we love them before it's too late.
After church that day, my dad felt God prompting him to call his parents in Australia to tell them how much he loved them. Little did he know that later that year, my grandpa would enter a hospital and never come out. He went in for a simple operation and the surgery went well. But he developed pneumonia shortly thereafter. Instead of returning home as we all expected, he went to his eternal home instead. The hardest part for all of us, and especially my dad, was that we never got to say goodbye to my grandpa. But my dad is thankful he took the time to tell his father he loved him.
That experience has really affected the way I treat my family. I believe all of us must work on our family relationships. We don't know how long we, or those closest to us, have on this earth. But we do know we have the opportunity now to tell them how much we love them—before it's too late. We can't let those simple but oh-so-important words be left unsaid.
Everything we know about God's word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself (Galatians 5:13-14, The Message).
Check out Rebecca's new devotional book, You're the Voice: 40 More Days with God, at a Christian bookstore near you.
Copyright © 1998 by the author or Christianity Today International/Campus Life magazine. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or e-mail clmag@CampusLife.net May/June 1998.
Vol. 56, No. 9, Page 64
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