Is doing justice from behind a screen, without any risk, really doing justice?
I've been a stay-at-home mama for more than three years now, and I've become ... too inward focused.
For some people, this might not be a problem, and I'm not writing here to blame moms for putting everything into their children.
But this idea of doing justice (which is all through the Bible so I'm not going to quote specific scriptures here) has been what has driven my faith since college. I mean, I decided to do foster care after hearing Francis Chan speak at The Justice Conference.
So I've been distressed with myself for being so out of touch with justice issues and even with serving in the charities my church does.
At the same time, the reason I'm not serving is because the outreach primarily happens when my kids are home. They're too little to help, and the church doesn't provide childcare. So I could drag them with me and then watch them instead of serving. A better person would do that so their kids would be exposed to service.
I'm not that better person.
But for this Lent (2016) at least, I've decided to take on finding ways to act for justice from the comfort of my own home. This isn't as radical or as sacrificial as I'd like, but it's where I am right now.
So each weekday I'll be finding a place to live out my faith in the online world, hoping that it will do some good and maybe inspire others to find ways to reach out even when it's hard.
So is it a copout? Of course. But I think it's better than nothing.