Priorities

I arrive home from our mission trip to Honduras and the air inside is frigid. I’ve spent nine days in the heat with no cool place for escape. You’d think I’d welcome the labor of the air conditioner but right now it just feels harsh.

After a night’s rest I make my way through my house that now appears to be a mansion. As I sip on my first cup of coffee, I notice a notebook on the table. In it is the list I made before leaving on the trip. I made it in order to release the things giving me anxiety, to record what was important for me to get done, and to help me budget my time so I wouldn’t squander it on futile things.

In reviewing the list I laugh at myself. It’s amazing what happens to you after spending nine days in a third world country. The people there are wonderful, grateful, kind, loving, hospitable; the poverty is great, the children uncared for, the pain unfathomable. My mind wanders around and then falls back on this list showing me what I thought imperative less than two weeks ago.

Organize closet and clean out the excess. It dawns on me now why they think we’re the “rich North Americans”. In thinking back to the homes we visited, I remember the lady sweeping her dirt floor. I remember taking groceries into the one-room shack, setting them on the floor because there are no cupboards, hitting me hard with the realization that there was also no food. I need to organize my closet. They don’t even have closets, because they don’t have excessive amounts of clothing. In fact, they don’t have much more than the shirts on their backs.

File, organize, and catalog my books. What a luxury I have taken for granted. I have a variety of books: classic literature, modern fiction, spiritual growth, Bible studies, devotionals. Many of the people we met don’t even have a Bible. Some do and they value it. I pray for those who don’t have the opportunity to dive into God’s Word while I switch between three books on any given day.

Now I know I’m not to feel guilty for what God has blessed me with and I don’t. My priorities have just reorganized and those things that actually gave me anxiety now don’t seem to matter at all. My shoes can stay disorganized and I’m in no rush to catalog my books. I pray I will take these lessons to heart and be grateful for what God has given me and that I will be a good steward of these blessings, using it all for His glory.

One Scripture came up over and over last week and it penetrates my thoughts again:

“For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”
Luke 12:48b

May God give you a renewed perspective on what’s important in life and a new appreciation of the many blessings from Him.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights”
James 1:17a

And may God remind you of the best gift of all: Him.

“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
Genesis 15:1b