A Glimpse of Poverty

I found myself in a very uncomfortable situation this week.

When a friend had to fire an employee recently, I was present. Losing work in this economy is not funny, and the situation struck me deeply.

Listening to the employee’s reaction, it struck me how close we all are to poverty. I was reminded that poverty is not a state of affairs outside of us as much as it is the state of our relationships.

What would this employee do? Where would he find other work? Where could he turn for help? Who could he rely on? Since most jobs come through people we are in relationship with, how healthy were his relationships? Healthy enough to find another job quickly?

Or…if not…what then?

How close to poverty are we at any moment?

To reinforce the point, the next morning I woke up at 3 a.m. to open the store I manage and found that my car wouldn’t start. What would I do?

I have heard the phrase ‘refrigerator-rights friends’, friends who can come in and eat out of the fridge without asking. And there is the obvious ‘foxhole friends’, friends who bleed with you. But I have a new one; four-a.m. friends, friends who you can call at 4 in the morning for a ride.

I suddenly realized that I didn’t have the relationship capital with my roomies to wake them up in the middle of the night for a ride. What if I could not make it to work? What if I got fired?

I called my girlfriend who came immediately. She was more than gracious, and on that early drive I found myself wondering how blessed I was to have her. Did she help save my job that morning? Possibly. What if she had not been there; what if I didn’t have that relationship?

I began to wonder about poverty. Bryant Myers summarizes poverty as broken relationships. If access to a needed item or service was dependent on a relationship, what is the quality of that relationship?

Most people in America have very few 4-a.m. friends. I know that I have not sown into the relationships around me enough for that. So, I should start.

As soon as I do, I am sure that I will also find out how close to prosperity I am as well. Start sowing into better relationships. Ask yourself what relationship you have always wanted to build but have held back.

Now go pursue it.

Tagged as: blessed, broken relationships, Bryant myers, economy, employment, four a.m. friends, foxhole friends, poverty, refrigerator rights friends, Relationships