Where do I even begin? There is really no way to sum up the past month in just one blog. I could talk for hours telling stories about living with the Masai tribe in the bush of Kenya. But there is one thing that God has put on my heart that I hope will stay with me throughout my life.
God has opened up my eyes to the concept of bringing honor to the people I haven’t met yet. Sounds strange, right? Yeah, I am not sure if I am able to put this thought into the right words, but I will try. I realized that it is so easy for me to go about my life (living with much more than I need) and have the whole world ‘revolve around me’. But while I am living my life with plenty, someone across the world is struggling to survive at the same time. When I was in 7th grade, a man who I wouldn’t meet until now was selling all of his livestock so that he could pay for his daughter to be in the hospital. And also when I was in 7th grade, that little girl died. When I was a freshman in high school, another man who I wouldn’t meet until now (and who I would grow to love and adore) was grieving the loss of his second son to sickness, and at the same time he was trying to survive through famine.
How can this be? How could it be that I was living my life in such a way that I was more caught up in getting the newest and cutest clothes, and years later I would meet (and grow to love) these Masai people who at that same time were trying to survive day by day? And they still ARE trying to survive day by day with their only most basic needs being met (and hardly even that). I should be bringing honor to the people who I haven’t met yet. I should be able to look back on each moment of my life and say that while they were going through famine and I had an abundance of food to eat, I was still living my life in such a way that it would bring honor to them.
God has shown me that it is not at all bad to enjoy life- He wants you to be happy and live your life to the fullest extent. But at the same time, I shouldn’t allow myself to live a meaningless life either. I want to be able to say that in every moment,I am trying to be the best person I can be and I am not taking what I have been given for granted. Getting out of the bush after a month of living outside and having not showered for over 30 days opened my eyes to the fact that even having a bed is a blessing. Having WATER is a blessing. Having electricity is a blessing. The simplest things that I was living with and felt entitled to are actually a gift. We aren’t entitled to anything in this life. I had no choice where I would grow up or which family I was born into. So something I need to ask myself every day is ‘Am I bringing glory to God and recognizing the things that I have been given in life? Am I thankful for the fact that I even HAVE another day?’.
This doesn’t mean that I should be upset with myself that I am not saving the world (I can’t take on every battle). Not everyone can pick up and go on a missions trip- not everyone is called to do that. But I need to take in every moment of what I have been given and bring honor to the people in the world who don’t have what I have- bring honor to the people I haven’t met yet.
