We Woke Up

We woke up!

Thousands of war victims didn’t.

Our bed was nice and warm.

There’s nothing cozy about sleeping on top piles of rubble.

My sister has four toilets in her house. We have three and I grew up with one. One between four. These people have none, or if there is a latrine close by, they share it with a myriad of others.

Is their makeshift hole in the ground sanitised? No. Did the last 345 people who used it, clean up the spillages around the gaping orifice? Where’s the toilet roll? Where’s the soap, water and towel?

If you’re like me, your imagination is probably running wild right now. We know it’s highly likely that the mother of three didn’t make it that far.

“Such a long queue! What has my toddler just stepped in? Ugh, I have no babywipes! Great. There’s poo on his shoe as well as in his pants and I’ve nothing to clean it off with!”

When I turn in my bed, all I hear are the snores of my husband and a baby crying next door. His dulcet tones remind me that he’s still alive. Alive and well. The infant is not disturbing me because I know it only needs a little milk. It’s not hollering in pain owing to a piece of shrapnel lodged in its temple.

Lying here, I hear no other cries of anguish – no illness-related noises, or the wail of the bereaved. There are no rockets flying over my sky, nor are there bombs crushing my neighbour’s house, with them inside.

I am not terrified. I am safe.

My duvet is thick and the sheets are clean. I have no bugs, or fleas biting my ‘one good leg’. I have no dirty material infecting ‘the wound in the other – the wound caused by a boulder landing on top of me two days ago when I was fleeing for my life’.

The roof is not leaking, so my bedding is dry. The open window is helping reduce the condensation we awake to every morning. It makes the room chilly, but we have a choice to shut it because the glass wasn’t blown in by an explosion.

As I snuggle into my warm pair of pjs, I wonder where do refugees store their dirty linen? You and I wash our garments after a few days. They have no choice but to remain in bloody, sweaty, torn clothes that are far too flimsy to keep out effects of the nippy night-time air. If they do get to wash their clothes while sheltering in a makeshift hut, how do they get them dry? Who flees to safety carrying bundles of wet washing?

You and I know the answer to that. With their hopes and dreams, it all gets left behind.

In my closet, everything is stacked neatly and the aroma of fabric conditioner wafts in the air. I cannot smell bodily fluids, burnt wood or melted metal. I am not breathing in harmful chemicals that have escaped from components that have caught fire and released poisonous fumes.

There are no scavenging animals or unwashed bodies drifting past my sleeping spot.

How was my slumber? Peaceful. My belly was full when I lay down. If anything, it was too full because I stuffed piece of chocolate into my mouth five minutes before getting into bed. I wasn’t hungry, just being greedy.

We all get the picture and I’m sure, like me, you aren’t keen on long posts, so I’ll reign myself in and shut up.

But the purpose of these musings was that I was pondering on what the greatest advantage I have over the many who are currently suffering terribly in all 4 corners of the world.

I have that blessed hope.

I have assurance that if I was murdered by a lunatic, my soul would be instantly transported into the arms of Jesus and I’d be in a place where nobody could hurt me anymore. Yes, people wound, people criticise, people misjudge, people injure and people kill.

But for those who have accepted God’s free offer of ‘hell-escape’:

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

(2 Corinthians 5:8)

Sadly, many of those who have recently died, refused to accept this precious commodity. They rejected Jesus. They scoffed at the salvation message and said that the bible was a load of trash.

For them, the suffering has only just begun. And for some of you reading this, despite your apparent safety, you too have no eternal hope. Whether we live in a war-torn country or not, we are all at risk of losing our lives at any moment.

Please seriously consider putting aside your bible offences and see the truth behind what God is saying to you. Jesus died to save everybody while we were still scumbags. Soften your heart and let him in. Your future happiness depends on it.

Much love,