A Refining Fire!

The devastating bushfires that are still consuming large tracts of Australia are a very real tragedy for many, especially those who have lost family and friends to the flames and those whose homes (sometimes complete towns) have been destroyed.

However, for the rest of us in Australia and beyond, the fires have awakened the core values of humanity; compassion, empathy and generosity. And so, there is a sense of another process at work in these terrible fires; the process of ‘refining’, which brings matter to a finer state or form by purifying.

Day by day we see the response of so many to assist, support, comfort and rebuild, and day by day we see the ‘hero’ nature of everyday individuals.

The children and families we work with in Nepal are also the victims of another form of devastating bushfire; poverty.

It takes away everything, including hope, potential and in many cases, it takes away life itself.

Like the teams fighting the bushfires in Australia, those of us who sponsor and support the work of IGWR-Nepal have found there is a refining miracle in our efforts; for as we seek to give, assist, support and rebuild lives for the children, so too we find that what is also brought to life is the very ‘best of who we are’.

We are refined in the process of giving life to another.

The name "In Giving We Receive" [IGWR] does not speak of a transaction, rather it seeks to illustrate a reality of life; our very best is awakened when we are called on to give of ourselves to the benefit of another.

And perhaps that is THE basis of really being fully alive.