We just returned from 3 weeks in Kenya and I realize how much life in America is based on what we have and what we can get.
While in Kenya we saw kids playing with sticks and stones and enjoying life, we saw adults eating the same basic staple foods day after day without complaining, we saw parents with their little children waiting all day to be seen by a doctor.......the beauty of the people, the contentment, the patience, the love for God... all points to something we have lost in America.
We are often so busy with our pursuit of happiness that we miss the real life. When was the last time I was really content?
Does my prayer sound more like this?
"My father in heaven, may My kingdom come on earth, may My will be done, give Me this day what I want.... "
As I process through the visit to Kenya I realize that all the things that I thought I need, are really not that important after all.... the variety of foods, the comfortable bed, the daily showers, the stores to buy what I want.... all those things I can do without...
...but what I do need are healthy relationships, friends that believe that there is purpose in life and that encourage me to do what God called me to, community that overlooks my many imperfections and loves me for who I am but encourages me to become more like Christ.
I need people with whom I can share life, every part of it, who invest in me as I invest in them, who share with me as I share with them. I need community who is willing to cry, laugh, dance, hurt, and feel with me, people from whom I can learn, people who are willing to share their lives with me.
Kenya gave me a good sense of what I do need in life and what I don't need and it really boils down that I need to be more like Christ and less like me because then life is so much more about people than things.