blessed
i have no idea how much i have. i've never had a clue. i hung out with a friend tonight. he moved here from Michigan and intentionally moved into the worst part of town so that he could truly live in community with those around him. i sat with him tonight talking at his home right on the edge of the US/MX border. we sat in his house with no air conditioning and wiped the sweat from our faces. his roommate went to sleep and woke up soaked. the temperatures hit 100 degrees or more here during the day and i literally don't have a clue how they are living like this. they have a pet ferret and at some point i was pretty sure that it rolled over to die.
something about this felt different. different than standing in homes in Mexico where it is "supposed" to be hot and dirty. something about this hit closer to home. i don't know if it's the disconnect of the fact that Mexico is an entirely different country and different culture than my own, but tonight something hit home in my soul.
i can't believe how much i have. i can't believe the opportunities i have. i am rich because i have a car. i am rich because i have food on the table at every meal. i am loaded because i get in my truck and i turn on my ipod and the air conditioning. i got a car when i turned 16. although it was unbelievably generous of my parents, deep down i thought that more or less, it was a rite of passage. sure it was a 1989 Honda Accord with permanently raised pop up lights that i had to share with my twin sister, but nonetheless, i got a car. somehow in this world that i am only slightly beginning to understand, this is unfathomable.
health care, education, even the fact that my whole life i have been asked "what do you want to be when you grow up?" are privileges that i had no idea were such gifts. i am lost in a sea of houses and electronics and things handed to me on silver platters. i am surrounded by travel magazines and talk of vacations and discontentment and the desire for more. yet still, i am living a life that looks to most like an unbelievable sacrifice; raising my own support and living between two worlds here on the border.
somehow sweating at my friend's house tonight filled in the gap that still exists between my life and the lives of those living in poverty in Mexico. so tonight, if you are sitting in air conditioning, or own a car, or had dinner, stop for a moment and say a prayer of thanks for all that you have been given. then say a prayer for the majority of the world that live lives that you and i will more than likely never truly understand. all that we have aren't promises, but gifts that we take for granted every moment.
something about this felt different. different than standing in homes in Mexico where it is "supposed" to be hot and dirty. something about this hit closer to home. i don't know if it's the disconnect of the fact that Mexico is an entirely different country and different culture than my own, but tonight something hit home in my soul.
i can't believe how much i have. i can't believe the opportunities i have. i am rich because i have a car. i am rich because i have food on the table at every meal. i am loaded because i get in my truck and i turn on my ipod and the air conditioning. i got a car when i turned 16. although it was unbelievably generous of my parents, deep down i thought that more or less, it was a rite of passage. sure it was a 1989 Honda Accord with permanently raised pop up lights that i had to share with my twin sister, but nonetheless, i got a car. somehow in this world that i am only slightly beginning to understand, this is unfathomable.
health care, education, even the fact that my whole life i have been asked "what do you want to be when you grow up?" are privileges that i had no idea were such gifts. i am lost in a sea of houses and electronics and things handed to me on silver platters. i am surrounded by travel magazines and talk of vacations and discontentment and the desire for more. yet still, i am living a life that looks to most like an unbelievable sacrifice; raising my own support and living between two worlds here on the border.
somehow sweating at my friend's house tonight filled in the gap that still exists between my life and the lives of those living in poverty in Mexico. so tonight, if you are sitting in air conditioning, or own a car, or had dinner, stop for a moment and say a prayer of thanks for all that you have been given. then say a prayer for the majority of the world that live lives that you and i will more than likely never truly understand. all that we have aren't promises, but gifts that we take for granted every moment.
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