Living In a Land of Excess

I have a friend who is a missionary in Mozambique.  We went to high school together.  When I was in high school, I wanted to be a long term missionary, too, but God had a different plan for my life.  While in high school, I did go on three short term mission trips to Honduras, one to Mexico, and spent a summer doing mission work in Detroit.  I always came back determined to live a simpler life.

Today I read my missionary friend's blog update and it included a picture of his son's birthday celebration. In the background you see the kitchen (extremely bare bones--no fridge, microwave, dishwasher, cupboards--you know, the things that we are used to here in the United States).  I think to myself, it sure would be nice to have a bare bones kitchen without all the excess clutter.  For my friend, there is no CHOICE.  In another post the wife shares what they eat--mostly fruits, vegetables, rice, pasta, and eggs.  Here I sit thinking how I'd like to lose weight, how I should eat a healthier diet (pretty much what my friend is eating), but I have a CHOICE to eat like my friend, it's not necessity.

I have occasionally forgotten the conviction to simple living since my missionary travels.  Then I will read a blog update on my missionary friend that will touch my heart and rekindle my desire for simplicity.  Or I will see a picture.  Read a book.  Watch a movie.  They all tug at my heart strings, begging me to live simpler so that I have the resources to help those who truly have great need.

In a land of plenty, it is a challenge to live simply.  I am surrounded by excess, bombarded with messages that say "buy this" or "your life is not complete without this."  Choosing to live simply is a real choice that has to be made daily, hourly, by the minute.  It's a constant battle to only buy what I truly need when I am in the grocery store.  To not buy that package of meat because it's more than I want to spend, to put back that shiny toy on sale that we don't need.  But I have a CHOICE.  There are millions of people who do not.

At this point in my life it is very doubtful that I will ever be a full time missionary in a third world country (I won't say it's completely out of the question, but it pretty much is).  Yet that doesn't exclude me from the call to live a simple life so that my excess can be shared with others.  Yes, couponing, deal-seeking, and simplifying are fun activities for me, but they're just a hobby if there isn't a purpose behind them--to help others.  In Matthew 6:20, God calls us to "store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust cannot destroy, and where thieves do not break in a steal."