Soul Poverty

     I'm thinking about  a particular young man who I noticed while in the Philippines recently and I am feeling compassion for him, and for those like him. He was one who stuck out to me, whose face said that he was having trouble. He had a scowl; not like some of the other happy and seemingly "well-adjusted" ones.
     These ones, who seem to have soul poverty, are the ones that He is having me focus on lately. All the beautiful people, inside and out, are usually the ones others are attracted to and who get most of the attention and support. But, the ones who for whatever reasons (we would probably we shocked at) are unhappy, depressed, angry or insecure are usually passed over, which only adds to their negative frame of mind. What if they only needed loving attention to begin to come out of whatever oppression they might be in?
     Several years ago, my husband's cousin, was over at our house. He had tried so hard to quit drinking alcohol, but couldn't.  For some reason, we were talking about what people wanted for Christmas and so I asked him what he wanted. I'll never forget what he said- "Just some love and attention." Wow-that took me back and I kept it in my memory bank. (Thank goodness, later the Lord saved and delivered him from alcohol, and he's clean today)
     I like to see a picture in my mind of someone's soul bank which may be empty, or even with a negative balance. In their lifetime, due to hurtful comments or actions of others, or traumatic circumstances in their lives, their value was stripped away, as coins were withdrawn one by one. What was made to be deposited with love, acceptance and encouragement, was instead given hate, fear and shame, depleting their soul of any life. Now, they are bankrupt, just waiting for someone, somewhere to make a deposit.
     So, I see that young man in the Philippines in my mind. What is to become of him? Even though he is now in an environment much better than he probably came from, he may still be passed over because of his angry look and demeanor. Sometimes it takes a lot of love coins to reverse the curse of a lifetime of abuse. Even if it doesn't seem like what we do for someone is changing things, (and I've experienced that a few times with certain people in my life) the Lord is showing me to continue to make deposits. And He's showing me the greater value of this way of giving instead of giving physical money.