why?
Why is it like this Lord? Why do we have everything while others have nothing? Why are we okay with that? Why are we as Christians okay with that? I think we are holding on to this world and the things of this world with a tighter grip than we'll ever know. Its not until we feel our grip loosening or being torn off that we see how much we are holding onto as we watch it slip through our fingers. I don't think we have any idea. I don't think most of us have any clue what giving up everything means either. We've always had SO much that giving up the comforts of our normal lives seems like we're sacrificing a great deal. And we are. We are giving up what we know, the life we've always had, the comforts we could have. And for what? Aren't we striving to grow and to get more, not to excel in life only to have less? It is far harder for someone who has more to let go because they are losing more. Maybe that's why scripture says it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
I love my life, I do. I love being an American and what that means. I love how blessed I am and the privleges and opportunities I've been given in this life. And I never used to think twice about the normal day to day because most of those I was surrounded by were living the similar American life I was. But living a life now around people that know a complete different world than mine opens my eyes in situations that I otherwise would not think twice. The people I see now have lives that exist in dirt streets as they sleep in shacks built on landfills. Mine is of airports and iPods, expensive computers and cameras. Before this i normally would have never looked at the people sitting across from me at an airport and thought much about them or their lives. I assume at the most basic level we are not that different; we live in the same country, we walk the same streets. But being surrounded now by people who's goals and dreams look nothing like mine makes me look differently not at the person sitting across from me, but at all of us and this American dream in which we live.
Our lives are one of a privlege that we will never fully grasp. We view the American dream as something to strive for in life; something to achieve in adulthood. The rest of the world realizes that it was instead poured out on us the minute we were born. As we try harder and harder to achieve what everyone around us has, we are ignorant to the fact that this dream came to life as soon as we did, although we did nothing to deserve it. Yet I also wonder if the very things that bless us are also the things that blind us; if the things we thank God for are also the things that make us not need Him or that separate us from Him. I am convinced that of all the differences in my life and the lives of those without, perhaps the greatest difference is our need for God, or lack thereof. Because of all that we have, we rarely need Him. We are even taught as Americans to "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps;" to do it on our own. The difference between us and the world in need is that we don't have any clue that we need help; that we are not okay. Everything surrounding them says they cannot do it on their own. We do not need a Savior because we are not broken. I might have more material things and more opportunities in life than the man that has never used a phone or the girl that has never seen a school, but I have a feeling that they could teach me more about this life and what it's really all about than I could ever discover on my own journey.
I love my life, I do. I love being an American and what that means. I love how blessed I am and the privleges and opportunities I've been given in this life. And I never used to think twice about the normal day to day because most of those I was surrounded by were living the similar American life I was. But living a life now around people that know a complete different world than mine opens my eyes in situations that I otherwise would not think twice. The people I see now have lives that exist in dirt streets as they sleep in shacks built on landfills. Mine is of airports and iPods, expensive computers and cameras. Before this i normally would have never looked at the people sitting across from me at an airport and thought much about them or their lives. I assume at the most basic level we are not that different; we live in the same country, we walk the same streets. But being surrounded now by people who's goals and dreams look nothing like mine makes me look differently not at the person sitting across from me, but at all of us and this American dream in which we live.
Our lives are one of a privlege that we will never fully grasp. We view the American dream as something to strive for in life; something to achieve in adulthood. The rest of the world realizes that it was instead poured out on us the minute we were born. As we try harder and harder to achieve what everyone around us has, we are ignorant to the fact that this dream came to life as soon as we did, although we did nothing to deserve it. Yet I also wonder if the very things that bless us are also the things that blind us; if the things we thank God for are also the things that make us not need Him or that separate us from Him. I am convinced that of all the differences in my life and the lives of those without, perhaps the greatest difference is our need for God, or lack thereof. Because of all that we have, we rarely need Him. We are even taught as Americans to "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps;" to do it on our own. The difference between us and the world in need is that we don't have any clue that we need help; that we are not okay. Everything surrounding them says they cannot do it on their own. We do not need a Savior because we are not broken. I might have more material things and more opportunities in life than the man that has never used a phone or the girl that has never seen a school, but I have a feeling that they could teach me more about this life and what it's really all about than I could ever discover on my own journey.
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