Perspective

In church service yesterday, Heather, the niece of the Pastor, spoke about her trip to Africa. After receiving $3000 in donations from the church she was able to go with her college group. Once they arrived in Cape Town they split into 3 groups. Her group went to Mozambique. They visited a sponsored church and met the Pastor. He rides his bike daily, 17 miles from his home to the church and an additional 14 miles from the church to the school. They were able to get him a motorbike. At the school, the administrators asked for school uniforms for the children that attended the school. The reason behind this was that the uniform is a sort of status symbol. They take much pride in being able to attend school. It also help with self-esteem when everyone is wearing the same clothes and shoes and are not dressed in rags. They needed to raise over $2000 and accomplished just that.

When it was time to go back to Cape Town they visited squatter camps. These camps are where people live in little huts made from whatever scrap material they can find. In one camp there was over a million people. Heather was told that 1/2 of that population has AIDS or is HIV positive.

My thoughts went to myself and to America. How selfish and spoiled we are. Metro Nashville has enforced a dress code for its schools and parents and students are all complaining because they can't wear what they want to wear. Yet children in Mozambique are just happy to have clothing let alone the status symbol of being able to go to school. School as a status symbol - not a chore not a pain - but something that shows that they are working hard and are becoming more. Not flashy jewelry or cars just hard work to get an education so that they can help their family and themselves. I'm sure they don't expect certain things to be given to them just because they think they deserve them.

In addition to school and clothes there are people who are happy just to have a roof, even if it is cardboard, over their heads. They may not live to see another day because they might die. They live in squalor, poorer than poor. And yet the .70 cents I just spent on Oreo cookies is not something that they are familiar with. Any extra money would have been saved for something important like bread or milk. These people don't wonder if they have time to grab a snack before Dancing with the Stars comes back on.

Heather's intent was to educate us on the conditions over there and what was accomplished by donating the money that sent her over there. All I could do was think how spoiled and selfish I am. Now I know that was not the point of her presentation, but somehow I felt like Marie Antoinette when told that the peasants were starving "let them eat cake".

I truly am blessed more than I realized. I have always been thankful for everything that I have but not only should I feel thankful, I needed to realize that I am truly blessed.

I am truly blessed to have a used 1997 car, I am blessed to live in an apartment that is big enough for me and my family. I am truly blessed to be working and receiving payment for that work. I am truly blessed that I can wake up in the morning and have a choice of what to wear and a choice in what I have for breakfast. I can drive to work and complain about the traffic and the crummy drivers that cut me off or complain when I am in line and the cashier is too slow.

Most of all I am blessed to know that my God loves me even though I am selfish. My God gave me a brain to see things, including that I need to be less selfish and more giving and loving to the people out there that may or may not know of his wonderful grace.