I have to confess, this post comes directly from other missionaries at my home church in Ann Arbor. Their post on the subject re-stirred something in me that I have felt for some time, and also gave me the great link I'll include further down. I also want to say that I wrote this post mostly for myself, mostly to remind myself of just how rich I really am...
It's very easy in this season of giving (and getting) to feel like we don't have very much. We easily focus on what we don't have or would like to be able to afford to give to our families. And even though I see the Black Friday pictures of people walking out of Walmart at midnight with 3 gigantic TV's and think, I would never be so obsessed we all still do it in our own ways. Every year families go into debt in order to buy their children happiness or prove their love or friendship. Every year after Christmas, after receiving a large collection of gifts, we go back to the stores to take advantage of the after-Christmas sales, because- we still don't have enough.
You can click on this link to the Global Rich List to see where you fall globally based on your annual income. A missionary salary puts me in the top 10%. And that's just salary, it doesn't include the health insurance benefits or other benefits that come with my job- both financial and otherwise. What do I give up to serve abroad? Not much. Even in Argentina, where my small stipend didn't even qualify me to pay US taxes, I was in the top 14% worldwide. I have traveled to and visited a host of countries. I have a helper that cleans my house for me once per week. I can afford to buy special treats at the expensive grocery store full of imported foods (there aren't many foods I have to go without here). I work and sleep in AC every day. I have more food than I can eat and more clothes than I can wear. I get to learn languages and interact with people from many different cultures. I have a safe and comfortable home. I have resources beyond imagination. I am rich.
I think it is especially easy for missionaries to think that we are "poor" simply because we often have less than expats in the corporate and diplomatic communities, but the truth is, we still have more than just about everyone in the countries where we serve (with the exceptions of those who serve in the US and Western Europe I would think). Our definition of "less" is still far more than most of the world's definition of "more". It's an easy trap to fall into- no matter how much we have there is always someone who has more. But you don't have to look around very hard or read many news stories to see that we actually have far more than we need- even in comparison to many Americans.
Perhaps this Christmas, as we pause to celebrate the gift of God's Son to the world, we can also consider how we can be Christ's hands and feet in that same world today. Heifer International and World Vision have some great ways for us to do that! Not sure what to get the person who has everything (or the person who has to fit everything into a suitcase)? Try a goat or a chicken...
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