I thought to myself, now having been woken up the third morning in a row by a screaming child unnecessarily intruding into my sleeping area, “hello! I’m trying to sleep here!”
It was out of control.
For some reason the babysitter believed that the one room I was trying to sleep in at 6:30 in the morning was the most convenient place to watch the two year old (at least better than the room with all his toys or any of the other three rooms on the second floor in the house).
Not only did this trend continue for the next five weeks without fail, but my time in Lima, Peru was marked repeatedly by my personal boundaries being violated.
When making the decision to travel around the world, one counts the cost of what will be gained versus what must be sacrificed to make this venture a reality.
For example, the limited amount of belongings able to be carted around is significantly limited, the amount of luxuries available is in short supply and the all-around comforts of home will be abandoned for a time.
What is not immediately realized is that these sacrifices are but the tip of the iceberg compared to what is truly stripped away in an endeavor such as this.
The word “entitlement” has been circling around my mind the last couple weeks.
I often feel indignant when personal boundaries, belongings or ego is infringed upon by others whether purposeful or inadvertent.
I mean, shouldn’t everyone on earth have the decency of some personal space?
Doesn’t everyone deserve clean water, a safe place to store personal belongings, food that won’t make one ill?
Thievery, community living and especially varying cultural boundaries have been some that I have experienced that cause me to raise my hackles.
In short, I feel entitled to the life I so choose.
I feel as though I deserve the respect of others for my personal space, belongings and quiet time.
I think that somehow I have earned the right to make independent choices, to take risks or be conservative at my own desire and to live my life without being hindered by another.
I’m not sure where this psychotic empowerment mindset came from, but it’s not the universal principle I once thought it was.
Sure safety, health and peace of mind are valuable and preferable, but do I deserve them?
In counting the cost, Christ often told His followers that “the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”
In Philippians 2, scripture says that Christ did not consider His equality with God (something He was absolutely entitled to given his identity) something to be grasped, but instead made Himself nothing, taking on the nature of a servant (someone with literally no entitlements).
Christ chose a lifestyle literally of no entitlements.
People pressed in on His personal space, he chose a life of such poverty that there was literally nothing to steal, He was beaten, spit on, interrupted in his time with God, diverted from His destination, told what He was permitted to say and what He wasn’t.
I want to look at this topic from another viewpoint: I am about to travel to Mozambique, Africa – a place recently devastated from flooding and hurricane weather.
Children are now orphaned, homes are devastated beyond repair, the crops and food sources that were imminently ready for harvest (and subsequently the sustenance of the country for the next year) are now decimated beyond retrieval.
I want to picture looking into the eyes of a little child in Mozambique and complain about what I feel entitled to.
When was the last time you looked into this child’s eyes?
This is not about being grateful for what you have, don’t insult the child I see.
This is about living a life holding nothing close and living open-handed before God.
Just as Job responded in the face of loss of children, wealth and even well-being – God is God alone, He is a good God who gives and takes away.
Don’t delude yourself into thinking you are entitled to anything, you’ll be sorely disappointed when you finally discover the truth.
Blessings still exist in this truth, but they are none you have earned, they are everything God has given – the best.
Now that’s something to be grateful for.
