December 28, 2016 was a day that I will never forget. We woke up early to travel across Manila in order to get to a place called Smoky Mountain. It’s a community that is on top of a mountain of trash and gets it’s name because of the constant cloud of smoke that was there for 40 years because it was an active landfill. Our group of 18 girls were going to feed the people in one of the poorest places in the Philippines.
As soon as we got to the top of this mountain, I saw things that I wish I could un see. The smell was, to put it lightly, horrible. The dogs here made the other street dogs look good. The kids were sick, hungry, and naked. I saw problems all around me that I don’t see in America, and I so desperately wanted to give all the money and resources I had to help their living situations. But, at the end of the day, all of the things I saw there were just temporary needs. I do in fact have all the resources to give them the one thing that will take the eternal suffering away. This is ultimately why I came. Before every feeding they do on Smoky Mountain, they sing, pray, and share Bible stories. They are receiving everything that matters and is important in this life. Jesus.
I walked down the mountain that day with a peace knowing that God has this place looked after and cared for. That’s the beauty of perspective. It changes how we see and think of situations. The Lord has been teaching me a lot about having kingdom perspective lately. You see, I’m human and selfish, therefore, I am always going to try to get things to go my way. So with it being the holiday season and wanting to just be at home with my family, I get upset when I can’t have that. I get upset when I wake up most mornings sweaty. I get upset not having the freedom of getting in my car and going where I want and when I want. But that’s the problem. I used the word I eight too many times in what I want right now. It’s all about me and not about the Kingdom.
So instead of throwing myself a pity party of everything that I can’t have right now, I’ve been learning to change my perspective on things and see them how God sees them. I’m so focused on everything that I don’t have now, instead of what the Lord has given me right now. For instance, I get to build relationships with hurting and broken people in this community. My only job in life right now is to build my relationship with the Lord. Never again will I have this much free time to read my Bible and be in this type of an environment where I get to pour into others. As much as I miss my air conditioned bed at home, I get to sleep in my hammock every night on the roof and listen to the waves crash on the beach. My life is just different for nine short months.
Now whenever I get upset because things aren’t how I think they should be, I am learning to look at them with a Kingdom perspective. Just as God looks at Smoky Mountain and what a world calls a dump, He looks at it and sees His children being cared for eternally.
Matthew 25:35 “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in”
p.s. this is your Christmas present mom 🙂
