Once you decide what you should take... Will you bring it all back home with you? or will you leave it in that country? Does that choice alter your decision on what you are taking? Do you take things that you like or do you take things that you don't care about?
I spent the better part of my day wrestling with these questions. Here I am buying new clothes to take on my trip because I don't own any long skirts, let alone decent shirts to go with them. Surprised? (For those of you that know me pretty well, I didn't think so.) If the dress code was under armor, sweatpants and hoodies, I'd be set but that's just not the case. So off I went to buy these skirts and shirts. I started at the end of last week in consignment shops and had absolutely NO luck. I guess I should also mention that it will be winter in Swaziland ( 40-60 degrees F) and if you haven't been outside lately, it's summer in America and nobody is selling winter clothes!!! Finally, today after driving all over Harford County I might finally have all of the clothes I need. (That's a lie, I still would like a pair of corduroys.. which have presented quite the challenge.) But I do have 4 skirts, 3 pairs of leggings, 1 sweat pants, 7 short sleeve shirts, 1 vest, 1 hoodie, 1 noodie (clarification: a hoodie with no hood. Some people say sweatshirts, I prefer noodie.), 1 sweater, 1 jacket, LOTS of undies, 2 pairs of flippy floppies, sneakers, vibrams, & socks. Maybe I'll add to this list, but probably not because I probably also should have mentioned that I am limited to one 50lbs bag & a carry-on of course but I'm going to want to pack my carry-on with funtivities for the 17 hour plane ride.
I have to be honest, it was a struggle to decide what to take. Maybe because I hurt my own feelings in realizing that I am more materialistic than I thought. Maybe because I realized how blessed I really am and how easily I over look what God has provided me and my family with. Maybe because the price of my jacket alone would cost a Swazi family an entire years worth of income to afford. WOW!
That being said, I am challenging myself. I am not buying all new clothes that lack any type of attachment. Yes, some things are new however, I am also taking clothes that have special memories attached to them and will be REALLY hard to part with. This will challenge my views of materialistic accumulation. Don't get me wrong, I am not going to give them away to make myself feel better. If God wants me to give them away, He will place a child in front of me and move me to give without hesitation and completely out of compassion and love. I just wonder, how could I possibly need to bring home all of the clothes that I take with me when I am blessed enough to have dresser drawers and a closet full of clothes and shoes waiting for me at home?
"Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud." Proverbs 16:19
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