Lost Voices

I've been reading 'When Helping Hurts' by Corbett and Fikkert. Really good book that I think I'll need to reread again soon to digest it all. One concept that I really appreciated is their insight into what poverty is. Most people from the western perspective would describe poverty as lack of money or necessary material things. But the poor themselves, "talk in terms of shame, inferiority, powerlessness, humiliation, fear, hopelessness, depression, social isolation, and voicelessness." (pg.53).

Lack of voice is something I've been hearing mentioned a lot recently. Or as the manager of FS T-shirts said the other day, "If the women are unhappy it's because they feel like they're not being heard. It's not that they expect us to change things, they just want to know that we are listening to them." They've been voiceless their whole lives and now they want the right to speak, and through that to remember that they are worthwhile.

In this Christmas season I've also been thinking about a King who gave up his voice to become a baby. He left more power than we can ever imagine to be born in a stable and to be raised in poverty. He gave up His voice so we could get ours back. So our voices could once again be heard by the King of kings. So we can talk to him anytime, anywhere, as if we were face to face.

He came to bring good news to the poor. And thought that we were worth it.