This New Year

This has been a very nice and simple Christmas break.  We stayed here in East Java at our home.  I have spent my days with my family and friends for the past couple of weeks.  I need to tell you that I have been homesick for my friends and family in America very badly and at the same time I need to tell you that this was one of my sweetest Christmas' that I can remember.  It was simple.  There were not a bunch of parties to go to or gifts to open (even though my aunts and friends tried their best to not make that true).  There were not a bunch of Christmas specials on tv or trips to take.  Instead there was a lot of sitting and being.  There was a lot joy in the simplicity of it all.  I have enjoyed three conversations over coffee that have really touched me.  I have enjoyed playing Barbie with my 2 year old.  I have enjoyed getting slobbering kisses by my 6 months old and I have enjoyed sitting with my husband while watching movies or just chatting about life.  My favorite times though were on Christmas day visiting good friends of ours at their houses and seeing how they live....so different from how I live in this same country.


One thing that seemed to be the topic of many of my conversations and thoughts is the perspective that we have.  You know compared to many of my Western friends my family lives without a lot of "stuff" and my house may seem small and my salary may seem little.  However, I never really noticed that my house was small until coming back to it after going to America for four months last winter.  When I walked back into my house from that America visit I remember thinking "I don't remember this house being this small, did something happen to it while I was gone".  Nothing happened to the house what happen was my perspective of house size was changed.  Well on Christmas day we went to visit our helpers' families and seeing their houses made me think "Oh my, my house is so big".  Again the house didn't change but my perspective did.  Our house is plenty big for our family of four.  We have three bedrooms and while they are small compared to American bedrooms they are the perfect size for us.  We have two bathrooms and one of those bathrooms is in my bedroom!  What a luxury that is!  Do we need two bathrooms for four people? No!  However, we have that, how blessed are we!


Another point of my perspective that has changed while living in East Java is wealth.  Many of the students that I use to teach in the U.S. were "poverty level" kids.  However, that definition of poverty is so off compared to the poverty that I see here.  I just read a friend's blog talking about just that.  She speaks of how the poor of the U.S. live like kings compared to the poor of Haiti.  That statement could be made about the poor of so many countries in this world.  My first resolution for this year is to remember the poor.  I hope that everyday I take a look around me and recognize how much we have and then I hope that I take a bag and pick up just three things that we don't need or use in this house, then take that bag and walk 50 meters to the end of my neighborhood and give it to one of the 100,000s of people who live in this city who would use that stuff much more than I do.


In one month our family will move to Kalimantan, the island north of Java.  Our lifestyle will again change drastically.  When I moved to East Java many of my American friends and family asked me how could I leave a comfortable job, friends, and family and go to a place that is not nearly as "good" as it is in America.  While now I find my Javanese friends asking that same question about our move to Kalimantan.  My answer is the same "Life in God is 'good' no matter what the conditions around me look like".  Please don't think that we are about to move to the jungle, there will be a KFC in walking distance.  It is just that life will be different and how we live our lives may be a bit different.  We will adjust though, we always do.  My second resolution for this year is to not let others define what a good life should look like for me.  I know that life can be good if you just choose that it will be good.  Even when hardships and sadness come our way I can still choose to see God's goodness in my life.  I refuse to let my surroundings or situations define if my life is good or not, I will let God define goodness for me.


I really hope that I can keep my perspective in God's truth this year.  I really hope that I can live with less and give more.  I really hope that I can think less of Mama K and more of my neighbor.  I really hope that I can stay away from self pity and stay close to God's truth.  I am not one to make resolutions but these are two areas that I can use some work in and so I am choosing to focus on them this year.  Lose weight, yeah I want to do that too.  Read more, yes that too I would love to do.  Many other things I would love to change about myself this year.  I think that if I focus on the two highlighted above that many other things in my life that need to change will follow suit.  





Mama K