Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Don't sweat the small stuff...and it's all small stuff"? Sometimes I wonder if the person who coined the phrase ever had their computer crash. I wonder if they ever had one of those days when everything goes wrong. I wonder if they ever had one of those days when they burned dinner for company arriving in five minutes. I wonder if they ever had blood gushing from their finger, wondering if it is okay...

Living in Ghana has opened my eyes to so many things. I have seen people literally make life and death decisions every day. I have seen mothers wonder how their children will be fed on a particular day. I have seen both children and adults drink the nastiest looking water. I have seen parents wonder if their child will live or die in the next 24 hours. I have seen people not only survive, but gratefully live with very meager means. Then, there's me...

I have wonderful family and friends both in America and here in Ghana. I have wonderful friends all over the globe. And, they ask me, "Sue, what do you want me to send you?" "Sue, what can bring you from Accra?" "Sue, how can we help you and your kids?"And, I answer them with my lists, my requests. But, more and more, I have been prefacing these lists, these requests with the words, "These are WANTS, none of these things are NEEDS."

Living in this type of culture/environment changes a person. The changes come slowly, discreetly, but, they do come. A person comes to realize what is important in life. And, even if it is a pair of glasses that don't arrive when I thought they would, life still goes on without them. It's no big deal. The things that matter...faith, hope and love. And the most important of these is love, the love God has for a fallen world and the love we give to Him and to others. The rest is small stuff.