Are we happier?

After class today I ended up talking with a guy from Colombia for awhile. He told me about how he was a national leader in his country, owned his own business, and lived on an island that was protected by the nation. He told me about how he met his life in a crazy turn of events, how he spent two years in the military, fighting the FARC, the revolutionary group in Colombia trying to overthrow the government in favor of socialist rule. We talked about drug trafficking and kidnappings and he said something interesting. He said Colombia has different sides. One side is very dangerous and ugly, but the people, the people are so happy. They don't have much. They live day to day but they are so grateful and so happy. He said that here we have everything- more technologies than we could ever need, help from the government, many opportunities but the people are sad. They always want more....

And I have to say it is so tempting. I still remember the first "mission trip" I took to Mexico and how that week without showers or clean clothes, sleeping on the torn up floor of an old church, I was so happy. I didn't care what I looked like, had no one to impress. My only worry was being in right relationship with the people around me and with God. And I don't wonder anymore why Jesus teaches us so many times to "get rid of your things"- throw away your riches and follow me. Or what that story means when it talks about how it's harder to get to heaven when you're rich than it is for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle...

Oh Lord, help me simplify my life. Help me get rid of the junk - all of the things I don't use and don't need. Help me to work harder sometimes- to wash dishes by hand every once in awhile so I don't lose appreciation for the technologies around me. Help me to slow down and accept a pace that isn't "productive" for a change. Sometimes it isn't about gaining more and more- it's about recognizing the value of what you already have... with health, food, shelter, support and love in our lives, Lord, I don't know how we could ask for anything else...