Time with God – Donna Mackey

Break my heart for what breaks yours.

The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it (Psalm 24 v1)

Are you ever out for a walk or drive and something stops you in your tracks and you gaze in wonder at how amazing something is? How amazing the earth is? How amazing creation is? The same God that made creation made you and I?

Simple things like the changing colours of the leaves in autumn make me think about how our brothers and sisters in the developing world maybe don’t see this, don’t get to enjoy the flowers blooming in spring, don’t get to enjoy a bountiful harvest. We live in a world of plenty when people are going hungry.

Our actions here in the west are hurting people who we haven’t met, people who have done the least to harm the climate but are suffering the most.

In the past 12-24 months we in the developed world have also been affected. It was predicted that the UK would hit 40 degree heat by 2050 but in the summer of 2022 London saw temperatures of 40+ degrees. I was in London when this happened and remember walking through Hyde Park with a shrivelled up tree and remember thinking of pictures I had saw in primary school of Africa, this is what this reminded me of. The heat was intense and dragging a suitcase and trying to coax (and bribe a young child with ice cream) to walk the short distance was tiring for us all.

More recently we have had hurricane after hurricane sweeping through Florida, and floods in Spain. Sometimes you wonder what next? What else can we expect to happen? But how can we help stop this?

Our actions and what we buy have a huge factor in this. To do your bit you could consider what and where you buy from, try to cut down/stop using single use plastic, change to a bamboo or more sustainable toothbrush. The most important thing to do is to use what you already have and not go and buy new because it says it is sustainable.

God’s heart is hurting for those in need, God’s heart is hurting for those who suffer from social injustice, God’s heart is hurting for the poor, God’s heart is hurting for the homeless, God’s heart is hurting for the world and everything he created.

Is your heart hurting for the same things?