Being Content With What We Have

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation,
whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."
(Philippians 4:12)

On the left, a scholarship student and her family we recently visited; they are standing in front of their home.  A typical Uganda family can have up to 10-12 children.  On the right, is a typical Ugandan child from another home we visited – kids at this age are required to do chores.  The small yellow gerry can of water she is carrying weighs about 24 lbs filled with water (children must fetch water from a local water hole and carry it back to their home, a large gerry can weighs roughly 40 lbs).

As we travel from one village to the next going to our destination, a group of children are playing football (i.e., soccer) by the dirt road with a homemade ball made from old plastic grocery bags and banana leaves/fibers.  One little boy, playing happily, is wearing a pink and light blue pair of Cinderella pajama bottoms as a pair of pants.  Society has not trained him to know that “pink is for girls and blue is for boys.”  He only knows that he has a pair of pants to wear in which he is thankful.

It is quite common here to see men adorning a flowery woman’s blouse which only an American would notice, or for men to carry old donated tote bags which most in the U.S. would classify as girly – especially since it is pink.  But all they know is that they are thankful to have something to wear and carry their papers in.

It is also very ordinary to see very young children running around without any clothes on, or for school children to wear old worn out clothes with missing buttons and large rips in them.  Mismatched shoes are also normal… or shoes that are way too big or perhaps too small, or for girls to wear ‘boys shoes’.  For these, who are less fortunate, it is not a matter of fashion, or having the most stylish trendy clothes or shoes – they are simply happy to HAVE, as many walk around with nothing at all.

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26).

It is amazing for us to experience and to live with such incredible people who are so loving and giving.  We go on student home visits where the families clearly have nothing and are only making it from day to day; but without worrying they go and cheerfully pick the best fruits or vegetables they have and give them to us as a gift of appreciation for caring enough to come visit their home.  The culture of joyful servant hood reminds me of Biblical days – when guests arrive, even unexpectedly, you always serve them regardless of time of day.  If it is during meal time, you set an extra plate, or two, or three… or four… and feed them.  If it any other time of day, you serve them something to drink and a snack.  To not demonstrate hospitality is considered impolite. 

This is a good time to say that when we left Colorado this past July, we wanted for nothing – literally.  We came with suitcases full of things we ‘thought’ we had to have, only to have never unpacked many of the items.  Although God prepared us well in advance for this move as we packed up our house and began to get rid of things, we never imagined the lessons that would be forever engraved in our hearts.

We are truly a work in progress and God is not finished with us yet.  The people here, along with the Holy Spirit of God, is molding and forming us to better serve.  We are slowly being released from the chains of material things we used to believe we had to have, and are learning to be content with the simple things we have – one does not need a lot to be happy.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  It is an attitude also expressed in a French proverb, "When you die, you carry in your clutched hand only that which you have given away."

Kris & Dean