We're all from the same clay

Look, you and I both belong to God.
I, too, was formed from clay.- Job 33:6

I write this from a hotel room in Brownsville, Texas. I had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time on the south side of the border today, and this thought- this verse- kept coming to me. As I watched young mothers, walk their young kids to school, some of them not long out of school themselves. As I saw disfigured and disabled men selling hats on the bridge over the Rio Grande. As I saw busloads of production workers shuttled in and out of the industrial parks, I thought about how similar we all are. But our life circumstances aren't the same. And this got me thinking.

I'm quick to admit that some people are dealt a bad lot in life. In Job's case, he was really a good man, a man who pursued after God. Yet, a lot of bad happened in a short period of time. It would be hard for anyone to say he didn't have a bad break. In the same way, many of the people in Mexico (far from the poorest country in the world) won't have nearly the opportunity that my kids will. But, as easy as it is for us to admit some people are born in a worse situation than we are, it's very hard to admit that we just might have gotten a good break. Just the parents we have or the home into which we were born or even our country- that maybe good fortune played a role in how far we've come in life.

Seeing the people in Mexico, I'm always amazed by their sheer joy. I love seeing their smiles in the face of worse circumstances than I'd want to face. And, more than anything, I recently realize we're all made from the same clay. Really, what is it about their lives that make them less valuable than mine? Why should I save to have a secure retirement and a nice house when others who are just as hardworking, just as faithful, just as God-breathed, have so little?

I feel very fortunate to have been born when I was and where I was. It was not an accident. God put me in the situation I'm in so I can make a difference. I just need to think about how.