Living With A Little Less

One thing that I've learned in the short time I've been in Africa is how little we actually need things. Even though I am mostly in a city setting, things that we consider necessities like daily running water and power, aren't always available here. And I love it! We only have running water 4 days of the week, and power 5, but even when we do, we use it as sparingly as possible due to shortages in the country. We've already become used to washing our clothes by hand in a small tub and hanging them to dry. We cook our food over a small gas stove while in the city, but anywhere else we just cook it over a fire, and we have it good The people here aren't worried about having a hot, 20 minute shower everyday, or having the convience of an electric stove or microwave, and they certainly aren't worried about having a working washer. The only kind of dryer they sell  here is two poles and a wire. Not everyone has a cell phone, and even those who do use it sparingly as minutes are not cheap and few people have an actual plan. There's no McDonald's on the corner, or Walmart to run in and just get whatever you want or need. People here have to be very resourcefull, and they just make do with what they have, not worrying too much about what they don't. And again, I'm in a larger city in Africa the majority of the time. I find myself being convicted daily of how materialistic I am, and how much our society puts importance on having lots of "things". I can be so worried about having "necessities" that aren't necessary at all, when I should know that God tells us He will provide for His children. Basically, I'm spoiled rotten.

"Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways" Proverbs 28:6

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" Matthew 6:25-27