My lovely wife, Megan, wanted to post about a resolution that she will be making for next year. Enjoy!
2014 is just around the corner. As such I have been thinking of New Year's resolutions - what to leave behind from 2013 or what to pick up in 2014. My initial idea was to give up gum - I did it in 2012 and did just fine, why not do it again?
After further pondering and reflection I have noticed that 2013 was a particularly selfish year for me. Maybe it was marriage that helped point it out - you know learning how to sacrifice for someone else and putting someone else before myself. Or maybe it was the transition from moving from St. Louis to Columbia that especially brought out my need to cling to what I have. Either way... I recognize that 2013 exposed much of my selfishness from within.
As many of you know, this summer Adam and I are taking a team of 8 students to Cambodia for an InterVarsity Global Project (Learn More Here). In preparation I am reading the book "First they Killed My Father - a daughter of Cambodia remembers" by Loung Ung, a survivor the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge was an awful regime that killed an estimated 2 million of the 7 million Cambodian people from 1975-1979. In the process, they wiped out most of the educated, teachers, doctors, nurses, and many more. As a result, there university structure is just beginning to be rebuilt leaving a great opportunity for God's kingdom to transform the structures and systems in Cambodia.
In 2012, our InterVarsity Central region sent our first staff over to Cambodia to start an InterVarsity movement in Cambodia in partnership with OMF. This summer will be our first student team sent over. So why am I saying all of this and how does it go along with my new year's resolution?
In recent news, there have been protests in Cambodia over workers in the clothing industry not being paid fairly. In the past year, we all heard of the factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed 1,000 people. I am left wondering, what can I do in all this mess? I feel helpless really do change anything. One idea that I had is, what if I think more critically about the whims that I have to buy a new shirt or about the leggings that I just have to have, and instead begin to think through the systems and structures in our world that take advantage of the poor. So this year I am planning to give up buying new clothing that is from stores or companies that do not pay workers in their factories fairly.
How will I know? Well, I will never know for certain, but this guide is helpful as well as other helpful resources. My hope in doing this is that I would think more critically about how my choices affect others, I would depend more on Jesus in my whims than on quick fixes, and that it would encourage others to also consider making changes to their habits that may enslave or hurt others.
Friends, as you consider your New Year's resolutions, would you prayerfully consider joining us in the campaign to do our part to end injustice in the world. It may not seem like much but it has the potential to have a huge impact.
Have an excellent day!
~Megan (and Adam)
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