'Everything'

14 Sept 2014, Trinidad, Bolivia. 

Today, upon request from one of the students' aunts, we took a road trip to her village farm to vaccinate cows. For Foot and Mouth Diease. The 'accredited technician' had just signed the form (in the future, even!) and left the vaccine. The farmer wasn't quite sure what to do (and, to be honest, neither were we, but when in doubt, read the back of the bottle). 

Lasooing 20 odd cows, one at a time, attaching them to a tree, tying their head and legs - to give each one a single intramuscular injection...this is the kind of bolivian efficiency that I will never get used to. 

That done and dusted/y, we did little devotional. The dear lady expressed her gratitude: 'Muchas veces, tenemos todos las cosas materiales para la vida.. pero nos faltan cosas espirituales - gracias por venir, y compartir las palabras de Dios´*

And I'm standing there thinking:

Dear lady, you live in a mud hut, you have an outhouse as a bathroom,  no running water; your motorbike has been at the mechanics for 3 months so you walk 1.5km in the relentless heat to the nearest shop; you milk 5 cows a day to sell iceblocks for a living...and you are telling me you have 'every material thing?'

And I realise something: that its not how much you have, but how much you think you have. For her, she has everything she needs and wants. I, on the other hand, look at her and see everything she doesn't have... this bothers me, but not her. Shes bothered about her lack of spiritual things.  

How much more stuff do we have in our lives, and how much more do we lack the things of God (not in the least, contentedness!)?

* 'Many times, we have every material thing in life... but we lack spiritual riches...thank you for coming and sharing the Word of God with us'