Did you know that close to 2 billion dollars will have been spent on the 2016 presidential campaign by the time all is said and done? I was totally amazed when I heard this recently for one reason and one reason only. I thought about the many things it could be better used for that might make a serious impact in some of our world’s problems.
Poverty, hunger, lack of drinking water, and spread of disease are just a few of the things I thought of. So often I hear people say if God really exists, why doesn’t He just take care of all these world problems? Well I’m not God but if I was to make my best guess on why that is? Maybe God is wanting us to do the work. Maybe God is asking us to take a look within ourselves and use what resources we do have for greater purposes.
Don’t get me wrong, I know it takes money to run for president. But, I’m sure that plenty of it is being spent on things that aren’t exactly necessary. But truly, my point is not specifically about the money being spent on this presidential race. It’s more about when one has an abundance of money or some other resource, why is it rarely spent on helping reduce some of these world problems?
I can’t speak for anyone else but myself, so my truth is this. When I had a ton of money to spend, and plenty of money coming in, I only thought about wanting more of it and what I could do with what I had, solely to please myself. In other words, my money and any other abundant resource of mine was focused selfishly on promoting my own life and nothing else.
So maybe that’s why God doesn’t make all these world problems immediately go away. Maybe He keeps seeing everyone use what they’re blessed with for selfish purposes. Maybe He keeps hoping people might wake up and start giving back some of their abundance. Maybe he sees things like this 2 billion dollars being spent on a presidential race while people are dying elsewhere in the world of starvation or sickness. Who knows?
What I do know though is that while I may be currently unable to work or bring in any money, I do have other resources I can give back to others. That’s why I go to a lot of recovery meetings, why I offer rides to those who need them, why I volunteer my time at various institutions, and why I sponsor others. Because God has still given me one resource in abundance that I can offer to the world and that’s my experience, strength, and hope in sobriety and recovery from all my former addictions.
I pray that one day I will have a lot more to offer others though. Until then, may God continue to guide me on how I can give back what abundance has been blessed upon me, so that I may never return to a life of selfishness…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson