Simplicity

Every morning I like to start my day by drinking a cup of coffee (for physical energy) and reading through my daily devotions (for spiritual energy). I read through one a couple of days ago that I thought was very fascinating and thought-provoking because it delivered a message I have grown up hearing but from a different viewpoint. It has been the focus topic in the past few whole-group devotions we hold once a week with the primary grades. I also recently had a conversation with the pastor of our church here with the same theme. I feel like God has been hinting at it in my life in many ways so I am sharing my thoughts. Here it is: (from “The One Year Walk with God Devotional” by Chris Tiegreen)

Death, the Equalizer
All can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others. Psalm 49:10

IN WORD     It is one of life’s greatest mysteries. We who were created for eternity and given the capacity for eternal affections often place those affections on transient things. We are all capable of the Sinai treason: While God was speaking eternal truth to Moses on the mountain, the Israelites were in the valley worshiping a golden calf. A piece of metal. No breath, no life, no power – just an earthly material that shines. God still speaks eternal truth by His Spirit and the Word, and we still worship gold. The mysteries of life rarely change.
                Perhaps “worship” seems a little harsh. We all know that having wealth isn’t the same as wealth having us. We can own it and use it without being controlled by it. But our sense of mastery over our possessions is often an illusion and always a dangerous temptation. Far too easily, our things begin to own us. We do not bow down and sing their praises, but we would bow down in grief if they were taken from us. We’re far more attached than we think.
                This wisdom psalm by the sons of Korah is right: Death is the great equalizer. Those who have wealth and those who do not will all have exactly the same amount when they breathe their last breath. We leave this world as we came into it – naked and destitute. We may have been well taken care of in our stay here, but none of our comforts last. Wealth for its own sake it only as meaningful as the dirt we’re buried in.

IN DEED     What is our way out of this trap? Most of us do not resolve to go through this life as ascetic monks and nuns or as poor beggars. We have money and we use it often. What is the spirituality in that? We can leverage temporal wealth for eternal purposes. God has made that possible. The money that decays tomorrow can be invested in the lives that last forever. Riches and godliness can be a powerful combination. Wisdom ensures that they are.

When I read this I immediately thought of an incident with my friend a few summers ago: she got in a minor car accident and although she walked away from the accident injury-free, she could not stop wailing about her car being totaled. She kept saying that she had really loved that car and worked so hard to buy it, and it was such a nice car for a great price and she was never going to find another one like it… I could not believe that we were having that conversation! I would have expected her to be rejoicing that she was unharmed in the accident instead of complaining about her vehicle. Her well-being and potentially her life vs. a material possession that could be replaced.

It’s a message we commonly hear: do not have any idols or worship material things. Or even: your life is not measured but what you have but by what you have done. Moving to Honduras has really put those thoughts into perspective for me. It’s a lot harder to notice the hold that material things have on me when they are in my hand than it is when they are stripped away from me. While I may not think that I am making material things idols, taking them away from me really puts things into perspective. I have had to give up a lot of my material things, and I often find myself whining that I do not have them or desperately wishing that I could have them again. But the more time I spend in La Unión and witness the people who have spent their whole lives here, I realize that my life is better without all those things that I think I ‘need’ or simply ‘cannot live without.’

Take for example cell phones. When I was home over the summer I could not help but notice how glued to their cell phones people have become. It is a giant pet-peeve of mine when I am sitting with someone having lunch, getting coffee, or just hanging out and they are more hypnotized by their phones than focused on having a genuine conversation with a real-life person right in front of them. It’s not only entirely irritating, but I find it very rude and embarrassing. Do we really need to check Facebook or our email every 10 seconds? Are we really that determined to get to the next level in a game and have bragging rights over our friends? But here, I hardly ever use my phone is and I could care less if I knew where it was. Anyone I need to talk is within a two minute walk and I would rather see their face than read their message. (In fact, we’ve been living here for more than a month now and I still don’t have all the teachers’ phone numbers locked into my phone.) I’ve learned that I really do not need all those apps to make my life interesting.

My life is so de-cluttered here. Living simply is not that difficult – it may be shocking at first and hard to cope with at times (especially coming from somewhere like the US) – and it is entirely rewarding. Look at the people who live here: their lives are drastically different but I would not say that they are worse off because of it. They have developed different talents and skills to get through their daily lives, most things that I, simply put, cannot do. There may not be a washer or dryer in the whole town, but these women can make the most stained clothing item look brand new. Kids won’t learn how to use a computer until they are much older, but they can still computer numbers, write papers, and create their own games to play. No one owns a lawn mower but they have machetes to trim the grass around their homes. The list could go on and on and my friends and family back home are always shocked to hear how people live here. There is always this moment of feeling sorry for the population of La Unión but it seems silly to feel that way since this devotion tells us that we, as citizens of a first-world country, will leave this Earth on the same level of these people from a third-world country.

The pastor from our church here took his family on a trip to the United States for the first time ever this past summer holiday. He told me that after seeing the US he now has a deeper appreciation for the teachers who come down here. He kept talking about the great sacrifices we make by leaving our homes, families, and comforts just to teach the children here; he focused so heavily on the material lives that we come from and how much easier it is where we call home. I wanted to stop him during his rant to tell him that we were incredibly blessed to be down here. We are given such a unique opportunity to see a different way of living and to learn from the families we interact with. I feel like I am becoming a better person by minimalizing certain areas in my life so that I can grow in new ways. I do not have fast food restaurants or even grocery stores with easy-to-make dinners so instead I am learning how to cook things from scratch, and loving it! I am building incredible relationships with people just by spending my time sitting and talking with them rather than watching tv or surfing the internet. I can take a shower and flush the toilet without any running water in the vicinity, both very valuable life skills.

My relationship with the Lord has been affected the most. Without all these constant distractions in my life I find my mind wandering into praise more and more often. I have plenty of time to contemplate and mediate on my devotion every day since I do not have tv, internet, my phone, stores, etc. to demand my attention. I am surrounded by his beauty found in nature and in the genuine goodness found in people’s hearts. We often find ourselves getting into religious conversations about our pasts or things we witnessed throughout the week. And we get to share our faith with our students and help them develop into men and women of God. The only word I can think of to accurately describe how it feels to surround myself with pure and holy things is: refreshing. Even the people in this town have shown a deeper and more intense faith than I am accustomed to see. Since they do not have resources like medicine, education, or food, they pray fervently to the Lord every single day (you can hear their prayers rising up from the church or from their power circles or from their homes) and they rely on him to meet their needs and answer their cries. It is incredible how many miraculous things happen in this community. If you need to renew your faith, come here. A great majority of the people in La Unión has figured out how to live their lives in full devotion to the Lord, and the day that I die, I will leave this Earth just like them – empty-handed.