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| A picture of the Valley home |
I’m thinking about Christmas. This will be our third Christmas in Kenya. Big
bummer, because we will miss seeing our amazing families. Big bummer also because we won’t get to
reconnect with precious US friends face-to-face. Bummer, no Auntie Bevvie
tenderloin and mashed potatoes with killer gravy. Bummer, no peppermint lattes
or candy canes for that matter. And bummer, we won’t see snow for another year.
(Actually, some, myself included, may argue that’s a blessing.)
I’m also hung up on Christmas gifts and am torn between whether
consumerism is a bummer or blessing. On one hand, the idea of consumerism seems
appealing. What a “blessing” it would be
to do some bargain shopping at Target, Costco, or even Kohls (small screech of
excitement as I think of scratching off an “Additional 30% Off” coupon at the
check out). It’s amazing how a great deal feels like money well spent to me,
whether it’s something I need or not.
And wouldn’t it seem Christmassier and make my kids feel so significantly
loved to be “blessed” by some really awesome, well-intentioned, bargained (of
course) stuff? It’s fun to think about being “blessed” by more stuff (sigh,
moment of joy, anticipating purchased gratification).
On the other hand, it’s not very fun to think about (sigh,
did I just roll my eyes?) because the line between blessing and greed can be
challenging to define. During our Swahili lesson this week, Edward, our teacher
asked, “Do Americans really use all of the gifts they receive at Christmas? Or
after January, do they end up just sitting around?” “Why do you ask?” I replied. “I asked because do you know that the amount
of money Americans spend at Christmas could supply enough boreholes to bring
water to the entire continent of Africa?” Gulp…..
When I look around me and feel the financial strain of every, single household to make it day
to day, contrasted by my selfish idea of purchased “blessing”, it’s not
actually very fun to think about consumerism. We all have ample opportunity to give
of ourselves to bless those around us. But honestly, depending on the moment,
for me, being surrounded by financial poverty can sometimes be exhausting (“Does
he seriously have to come to my door and try to sell me flowers three times
this week?”), guilt-inducing (that’s probably it today because his family may
not eat unless I buy something), annoying (“Ummm…nope, I don’t need sheep poop
this week.”), pride inducing ("What a saint I am for buying flowers once
this week."), and even exasperating (“Stop asking me for a handout and GET
A JOB!”).
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| A picture of a sheep and a bed |
And, though I’m totally full of myself, because I could shop
(meaning I actually have coins to spare) online and then ask a visiting friend
to bring some ‘American (Made in China) stuff’, being surrounded by financial
poverty and being poverty-stricken of soul myself is the self-induced plight of
humans going back to the garden.
So what is true Christmas blessing? I’m in a great Bible
study with some wiser-than-me missionary ladies, and we’ve been studying
Hebrews. We’ve read a lot about Jesus, God’s
Son and spokesman, our eternal intercessor, God in the flesh. My favorite two liner so far is this,
“…consider Jesus…” (Heb. 3:1 NASB). Consider Jesus. This thought has penetrated my mind so often
over the past few weeks. I can hear God
whispering it into my ear every time I have a selfish thought (which is a lot),
a challenging situation, and especially in moments of joy. “Consider Jesus” has been speaking to me
related to poverty and blessing.
Consider Jesus in the midst of not only financial poverty but poverty of
the soul, mind, body, emotions, circumstances, (fill in your own need).
Consider Jesus as the One who can totally relate to our condition because He
experienced it firsthand.
Defining blessing as Jesus being God with us and giving us
of Himself in the midst of any circumstance, makes blessing continually
accessible and only dependent on my ever-present choice to be aware of it. For me, this is astounding, humbling, and
freeing and puts consumerism and true blessing in perspective.
And so as I ponder consumerism and poverty and blessing, I
ask myself, “What will I consume today? And what is truly a blessing to me or
to my children? How can I, like Jesus, be a blessing to those around me? Will I
be consumed by my own selfishness or choose to consider Jesus and consume the
audacious fact that Jesus is all I need and that in itself is a blessing in the
midst of my own poverty stricken circumstances?
And, by the way…thank you on behalf of our whole family,
from the bottom of our hearts for your generous blessings to our family which
allow us to live so lavishly. We have
never once wondered whether we would have enough to eat. And I personally am grateful that I’m in a
position to think these thoughts and that Rick is not spending his days selling
sheep poop to feed our family.
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| A picture of her friend |
Pictures represented in this post were made by the Valley kids when we asked them what they were thankful for this Christmas. It puts things in perspective for me...
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| A picture of his bed |
