Bridges to the Heartland

The NaBloPoMo challenge for the RevGals today is "Post a photo of what you can see out a window- any window. What do you notice in the picture that you didn't just looking out?"

This is a picture I took this summer on my way home from church. There is a beautiful old metal bridge that crosses from woodlands into farmland. 

I was attempting to take a picture of the quaint little clock tower but I missed it.  It's behind the vertical bar.  What's interesting and most attractive to me about this picture is the reflection in the mirror.  I also like the unintended inclusion of the water below the bridge. It is almost a story from where I've been to where I'm going.  This was a bright and hot August day. The surrounding countryside is filled with icons. The river feeds the rich Arkansas valley and much of our agricultural abundance comes from beautiful locations such as this.  The nostalgic feeling of the bridge took me back to my own childhood.

Just above the mirror is a huge grain silo.  This is a common sight on this 175 mile drive. In the spring I get to watch the new planting and growth and throughout the summer and into the fall I get to watch the ripening and harvest.  175 miles long and as far as the eye can see to the left and to the right is filled with food. The primary crops are corn, rice, soybean and sorghum. What really confuses me is that the majority of these crops aren't grown for human consumption, they are used for livestock and other animal foods (dog and cat).  I think about the pictures of the very poor in India and Africa and I wonder at their reaction to these miles upon miles of food that, well, we feed to animals.  I keep having this vision of a mother holding her starving child standing in the middle of one of these fields and crying at the bounty before her. It brings me to tears every time I think about it.

I've been seeing cotton fields lately that have been harvested. The large bales of cotton are sitting in the fields. Yet I can see cotton on all the plants still.  Is this just what the machines can't get? Is it just wasted?  Is this what happens to the corn, rice, soybean and sorghum fields?

There is no reason for anyone in this world to go hungry. God made our planet in such a way as to provide sufficient resources for it to continue. There are sufficient resources for everyone to have enough food to eat.  It is our sinfulness, our brokenness, our greed that hoards these foods. It is our system of government worldwide that keeps food from reaching those who need it most. It is our culture that would rather talk about same gender couples than the fact that people starve to death in this world every day. It's our lack of discipleship that insists people are on hard times simply because they didn't try enough. It is our shame that we don't share everything with those who need it.