If you asked me what poverty looked like 6 months ago, I’d paint you a picture of dirty streets with small, worn down homes, and children running around in tattered clothes, begging for money. If you asked me what poverty looked like today, I’d tell you that poverty most often times, is big homes, nice cars, and a steady income, the “American Dream.”
These past two months I have walked through streets piled with trash, lined with run down homes, and children in tattered clothes begging for money, and want to know something I’ve noticed? Almost everyone has a smile on their face and you can see their joy beaming! It is so humbling to see that these people have almost nothing, but are still so ready to serve you, feed you, or just sit back and laugh with you.
Then I think about home. Everybody has a nice house with beautiful decor, clean, comfy beds, and a full fridge, a car with air conditioning to get them around, and a monthly income. All these things and it still doesnt seem good enough. Chances are, they wont share their meal with a complete stranger, no they will not sit to talk and laugh with you, because they are too busy and have things to do.
Last month in Macedonia, I met a group of children. All of them lived in small houses, wore dirty clothes that were often times not their size, and had to get a free lunch from the church everyday in order to eat. You could say they were pretty poor, but that did not stop them from spending the little denar (Macedonian currency) they did have on chips and soda for my team so they could have one last meal with us before we left, or buying us jewelry to show their love for us.
I met a girl on Tuesday here in Romania. Her name is Catalina and she’s about 14 years old. Catalina watches her alcoholic father beat her mother on a regular basis. A smile rarely leaves her face and she has such excitement in her eyes when she speaks. It’s beautiful. Unless somebody told you about her home life, you would never in a million years guess what she goes through.
How is it that a culture with nothing, can really have everything (joy, peace, love, and kindness) while a culture who has everything ( houses, cars, and money) really has nothing! I cannot even begin to describe how much this has changed my life.
After you’ve passed away, I doubt anybody will remember you for your house or how much money you had but I bet you every single person you had ever come in contact with would remember you for your genuine smile, your joy, and the time you gave them.
Proverbs 13:7 – “A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life.”
Let’s Get Back To The Basics.
