Perspective

I had a good dose of perspective this last weekend and I think God likes to give those to me occasionally. I spent Saturday and Sunday out at a village about two hours from Musoma. Hazel and I drove out with one of our Tanzanian friends we met at the Bible school named Sara. Sara brought one of her good friends along as well and both girls are loads of fun. The village is where Sara was born and grew up and where her parents and family still live.

When we drove into their yard we were greeted warmly by Sara's parents and sisters. Her mother couldn't stop telling us how thrilled she was to have visitors and of course how great it was to have Sara home again. We were welcomed warmly the entire time and treated as honored guests. It was fun to see pictures of Sara when she was little and get to know her family a little bit.

However throughout the whole time we were there I couldn't help but compare how this family lived to the way I lived. I thought back to how I complained that our floor is dirty all the time from the dust blowing in and looked at the dirt floor that the girls painstakingly swept and cleaned. I thought about my annoyance when our water stops for a while and knew that this family had to go far to get their water. I thought about how my hard mattress bothered me sometimes and knew that if any of those girls in that house had the luxury of their own room and nice big mattress they would be thrilled.

I have seen poverty before and I have stayed in a Tanzanian village before. Yet somehow this house and this family struck a chord within me and I felt the disparity between our lives. It brought my life sharply into perspective and suddenly I couldn't remember the Canadian luxuries that I sometimes miss so much but saw only the enormous blessings that I do have living in Musoma.

I wish that no one had to live the hard life this family does and yet there is a happy ending still to come. For on Sunday morning we all went to the same church to worship God and when you are standing before the Almighty God who loves each one of us equally, the disparity melts away and we are all sisters and brothers together. I watched Sara's mother dancing and praising God and knew that her happy ending has nothing to do with the physical things around her but with a God who gives her what she truly needs.