I feel “in between” right now. There is a quiet voice reinforcing my own thoughts, I don’t want my children to be wrapped up in possessions and achievement and being “good enough”. Yet, I live in a culture that screams, “Get More! Be More! Have More!”. How do you reconcile that in the day to day?
Sure, you can be content with what you have. Sure, you can live frugally. But, to what end? How do you give generously here in middle America where everything is sterilized and the haves are separated from the have-nots? You have to weed through applications and bureaucracy and red tape and auto-drafts.
How do you really, really free yourself from the marketing machine that is allowed to run the United States? That man-made creation…Marketing…has created unmatched prosperity in material possessions–but has it created a poverty of spirit?
I was listening to Tsh and Kat chatting in Episode 8 of The Simple Mom Podcast–they were chatting about their trip to the Phillipines with Compassion International. They mentioned that in the Phillipines the kids greatest dream is to own a cell phone. Some of the children they met live in homes accessible only by a boat made of styrafoam. Yet, because of the infiltration of our junk…their big goal is a cell phone. And, sadder than sad, we have deepened their poverty by planting a seed of want for something so disconnected from their existence.
I like cute stuff, I like neon and nail polish and fun earrings. But, how do I reconcile that when others across the world (across town?) have literally next to nothing?
I’m not sure. I don’t know what to do with it all. But, I feel my passions shifting ever so slightly. I feel a little more uncomfortable with excess in my own life. I am sure this means that God is working on my heart. That makes me 100% nervous and 100% excited.
How can you tell when something is happening and changing in your heart? Do you have a “go to” feeling? I always start feeling a little annoyed at first–like my status quo is being challenged. I also start to feel like my skin is getting a little too small…so uncomfortable. I always know that something is happening deep inside when I start to feel that way.