Walk two moons in someones moccasins

I've been pondering some things lately.  

We Canadians and Americans have sooo much!

We say "we are so blessed"  humm...

I was pondering that this morning.  

My family sits down to breakfast and has

more than one option of cold cereal, as well as muffins, fruit, milk..... and more.

Or instead of blessed are we "spoiled" ?  

I ask the question, but really I'm coming to believe that is the truth.  

We have too much!  God help us!  

So as we talked together over the breakfast table we remembered Daddy's trip to Haiti.

The kids were remembering the things Jeff told them about eating rice and beans all the time.

Could we do that? Are we willing to give up our comforts to not be "spoiled"  and ungrateful?  

As hard as that is to answer, I have to think about it.  

The more we have the less grateful we are for what we do have! 

That reminds me of Jungle Jam and Friends story and song..

"The more you have, the more you have to take care of the things you have..."

A Lady in Haiti selling fruit to make money for her family

Jeff said, " in Haiti, they didn't have much, but they seemed to have joy"

At least I see this in my life.  When we have too much we don't take care of what we do have.

That led me to thinking about my Grandparents and what they have lived through with the Great Depression.  We can learn so much from them if we take the time to listen to their stories.

Jeff's Great Grandpa Dan Yoder Jeff and Mike

Jeff's Maternal Grandpa Gingerich

Wendy's Maternal Grandpa Phares and Edna Rutt

Phares and Edna Rutt

Wendy's Step Grandparents  Roy and Catherine Messner

So then I think Oh dear I have really let this life of Materialism take over my world, unwanted!

I try to do my best to live with less, until I go shopping and think "oh we need______"  

Our rescources or Credit cards allow us to buy for the most part whatever we think we need.

Oh and the "cheap" toys and Bargains that you think you are doing a great thing saving money...
Don't let them waste your money!   And Time!

I have a little story to tell you. 

We just bought Trevor a Monster truck for his birthday. 

He really wanted one and after looking around I found one at True Value.  

I knew it might be a cheaply made one, but I reasoned that if he takes care of it it should last.

I was wrong.  I am convinced that the toy makers in China are just laughing at us Americans and Canadians who keep buying junk! 

 I am telling you, his birthday was November 27.  This is December 15. 

 It is broken already and HE TOOK CARE OF IT!  

You probably are saying, oh you know little boys, they just wreck their toys.. 

No, we told him that if he didn't take care of it it would break.  

He was so diligent at putting it away every time he was done playing with it.  He even put it in our bedroom so his little brother wouldn't play with it while he was in school.  

One day, a friend was over and took the truck and somehow it got placed behind the door of the bedroom and it took one person to swing the door open and broke the little wheel off.  

Jeff tried to fix it for him, but said it's no use, it was made so cheaply I can't even fix it!  

What a shame....  

Just maybe this is the issue with our Garbage dump being almost full.!

We keep  buying cheap junk!  That doesn't last!  

Our Grandparents might have some wisdom for us don't you think? 

Good quality, hand-made gifts, that we don't have time to make anymore.  

That we don't want to spend money to make, because you can buy it cheaper.....

As I think about how we get to the places in our lives where we have too much stuff,  I was pondering  how do we react when we see someone else who is stuck in their stuff? What do we say to ourselves or others?  Have you ever watched the show Hoarders? 

We think to ourselves

If only they would.....

If only they wouldn't........

I would never do that......

Can you believe that person does that???

Really?  What if you walked two moons in their shoes?  

This post is a window into my thoughts, scary, Somehow I am going out on a limb and sharing my heart here.  I hope it is a safe place.... what am I thinking this is not a safe place! It's the internet for pete's sake!

You need to Walk two moons in someones moccasins before you can even think about judging them.

It doesn't just go for people caught in the materialism trap, but so many other traps we find ourselves in.

Sometimes we are unaware, sometimes we know we are in a trap, but don't know how to get out of it.

Let's be gracious to each other.  Life is a journey!
How can we make this world a brighter place this Christmas season?