The Treasures of Our Hearts

Not to long ago, I read an article of a small study done on the reasons why U.S. families moved to a new home. The number one reason - not for more living space, but for more storage space! Having lived abroad now for 5 years I have to say, that is a first world problem. In many parts of the world people do not necessarily deal with situations where they have the luxury of having so much stuff or the ability to purchase so much stuff that they can no longer find room to store it! In Ecuador, for example, imported items (appliances, food, clothing, cars, etc.) will cost you more than twice the price you would pay in the U.S. in a country where the average salary is less than half of what the average American probably makes.

Most of the world learns to live without or with much less.  It has me thinking a lot about how my attitudes towards consumerism, materialism, and time managment affects not just me, but my family, my community, and the world as a whole.  Just the other day at Pan de Vida, a woman traveled almost 2 hours to get a bag of groceries from us.  She had heard about Pan de Vida on a radio program and had a need.  What if we didn't have the funds to buy food for the poor because we spent it on something we really didn't need?  What if we didn't have the time to volunteer to help distribute the food we had to the poor?  She would have gone without.  It isn't to make us feel guilty - but more to think about how God really calls us to use our time and talents. 

I recently had a friend who shared a blog link called The Year of Less.   I was particularly taken with her Day 12 entry:  When Decluttering Hurts:

"The truth is, decluttering should be hard. I should be standing in my kitchen with tears streaming down my face, beating my breast and calling out to God over all the times I wandered through stores full of fragile items, justifying myself as I put things I don't need into my cart. I should be on my knees repenting for caring more about polka dot dishes than starving orphans. I should be begging God to never let me forget again that we are here for something so much better than spending and consuming and storing up treasure here on this broken earth. We are here to touch lives. We are here to spend our lives on HIM...But instead I stand in my kitchen wondering whether I want a more authentic walk with the maker of the universe, or some really cute polka dot dishes.  And this realization, this conviction, brings me to my knees. Lord, break my heart with the things that break yours."

Ouch!  Where are your priorities?  Can decisions you make today on your time and talents affect someone on the other side of the world?  Living on the otherside of the world, seeing the day in and day out poverty: yes - your choices do affect the world in one way or another.