On being poor

In our poverty, we can generate life and re-awaken hope. We can make God's passage perceived on our streets, a God who transforms our heart and makes it humble, joyful, and confident. (Sr. Yvonne Reungoat, FMA)

As a young Sister, I have worked for many years with streetchildren and their families. It was not easy to work with them because I have come to see that poverty has so many ramifications and they are all inter-related: material, cultural, economic, spiritual, etc.
But I will never forget three things I have learned from them. In their poverty, in the lack of even the most basic necessities, they have taught me:
to know how to wait. It is not always easy to wait. Just a little space of inactivity seems to be a waste of time or an unbearable silence. But many things take time, and it is important, rather, imperative, to learn how to wait, and to believe that it is not an empty space. Something is happening in the depths. Trees take time to build strong roots. We don't see them on the surface but when a strong tempest comes, we know if they are present.
to be grateful. Those who have hardly anything are grateful for the little they have to get through the day. They don't lay claims on anything. That is not their priority. What is important for them is to survive just for the moment, just for the day; and if they do so, they are already happy and grateful.
to share what I receive. This is something that has really edified me. Even the toughest streetkid that I have met always thought about the brothers/sisters/parents left at home who did not have anything.
I don't condone poverty and misery as such because I believe that each person has a right to a dignified existence. But, come to think of it, poverty teaches us these lessons.
I am not living a hand-to-mouth existence but I do experience poverty everyday, when I come to terms with my limitations, with the reality that many things don't depend on me, that as much as I try to do my best, it doesn't guarantee that things, persons and situations will turn out well or be good to me.
As I come to terms with my poverty, I realize how much I need God. He is the Peace that will enable me to accept my poverty.
It is a journey. I haven't arrived yet, but each moment, each day is a call to move on.