We Came Here With Nothing

Recently, my kids have become a little obsessed with screens. Big TV screens, little Nintendo DS screens, tablet screens, phone screens, and so on. We limit screen time in our home but even when they didn’t have their eyes on a screen, they were asking every 5 minutes to watch or play something with a screen.  Bryan and I took some of the screens away as a punishment because of disobedience and it broke our children’s hearts. They were absolutely devasted. This felt like a HUGE warning to me. 

Since the boys were so broken hearted over the loss of a small screen, I thought it might be good for them to take a peek into the lives of other kids around the world. I looked up Youtube videos that showed the life of children in Guatemala, parts of Africa, and Haiti. I shared the videos with my kids and I was blown away by the impression it made on them. They couldn’t believe the way other children lived. They quickly realized that we have so many privileges and gifts that other families do not have. Evan even stopped to pray, all on his own, thanking God for all the He has given us.

We talked about how being born in the United States is a gift. We didn’t get to choose where we were born and neither did the children born in impoverished countries. We don’t deserve the many blessings we have anymore than those families do. We are simply blessed. We came with nothing into this world, just like the children they saw in the videos. 

As I’ve pondered how this impacted my children and how things easily become too important to them from time to time, I realized that adults often do the same. We forget that everything we have is a gift.  We act as though we're entitled to all the things we have and want more and more. Each one of us could have just as easily been born in a small village in Africa with no air conditioning or bed to sleep in. We could spend our days traveling 2 miles by foot to get fresh water for our families or have to make all our own clothing. We could live in one room huts made from clay bricks we made ourselves. We could have no access to education, healthcare, or the internet.

So why do we spend so much time complaining? Why do we get so bent out of shape when our dryer isn't working correctly? At least we aren't forced to hang our clothes on a line.  Why do we get aggravated when we have a slow cashier at the grocery store? At least we have an unlimited amount of food at our fingertips. Why are we rarely happy with the car the drive and find something we dislike about every room in our house. At least we have a car (most families have multiple!) and a house to live in. Even the smallest, oldest house in the United States is probably much better than the handmade tents so many Guatemalan families live in. 

I believe it's because we so easily forget. 

We forget that we came here with nothing.

Every. Thing. Is. A. Gift.

When we took away the Nintendo DS, all our boys could focus on was losing that one material thing. They forgot that they have a home full of blessings to be thankful for. We do the same. Not to mention all the intangible gifts we've been given. Friendships, safety, love, joy, security, freedom, warmth, and on and on. Why are we blessed with so much? Why are others given so little? We would do well to remember that not one of us deserve more than another. Being born into this time period and this community is an overwhelming gift that we take for granted each and every day. 

Today I am grateful for the opportunity to teach my children about their many blessings and hopefully change their perspective a little on life and all they have been given. I am also grateful for the reminder personally. Its so easy to focus on things I wish were different or things I wish I could do but honestly, even without those things, my life is amazing and my God has been so good to me!  I am thankful for all that we have and all that we don't have---there are so many blessings in what we've been spared from as well! I pray that my family will remember that everything is a gift because we came here with nothing.