“The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.”
That may have been what David said, but not me. I want. I want a lot, and I want it now! McDonalds has convinced me that “I deserve a break today.” Obama has convinced me that I am deserving of as much as my neighbors, that we are all in this together, so I want. I want my $4,500 for my clunker and my $8,000 for my house, and my free health care, and my “partridge in a pear tree.”
That’s the way I used to be, until almost 20 years ago when I went to Haiti and met my brothers and sisters down there. It was a long time after that before I could set down to a Thanksgiving meal and enjoy myself without feeling guilty. It takes a few months after returning from Haiti for the memories to fade of what I saw there. (I wish I could infuse the smells of constantly burning garbage and raw sewage into the above photo for you to experience.)
What I saw was unimaginable poverty. Yet in the midst of that poverty there was more joy than I find at home in the States standing in the middle of our Super Stores of Stuff.”
“Madison Avenue” does a great jobwith advertizing and convincing us that more things will produce more happiness, and so we buy, buy, buy. But it’s all a sham. Things do not bring happiness.
Returning from a place like Haiti, the statements of scripture scream at me with the reality of truth.
“A man’s life does not consist of the things he possesses.”
“I have learned the secret of being content with little or much.”
“The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.”
Yes, before I knew in my head that I shouldn’t covet so many material things, but knowing not to want and not wanting are not the same thing. After seeing the hight of joy amidst the depth of poverty that so many had in Haiti, – – – well let’s just say it’s no longer just a head thing, It’s found its way deep into my soul. May God enable it to stay there for the rest of my days.
Leaving a Legacy 