Little is Much

The third day we were in India was a Saturday, and Saturdays are a big deal around here. The children still go to school, but it’s only for a half day. Every day of the week they have study time from when they get home from school until evening devotions, but not on Saturdays. Once they get back from school on Saturday, after lunch, they have from about 3 until 7:30 or 8 in the evening to play to their hearts’ content. Looking back even now, having been here for a little over two weeks, it is such a sweet memory. We were just getting acquainted with the kids, and remembering how bashful and timid they were on that Saturday is precious when I am with them today and laughing at all the different goofy personalities and individual quirks—and trust me, they’re not shy anymore. Here are a few pictures of play days with them since:

Tyler playing basketball with some of the boys

A little bit of teamwork to set up goals for a soccer game

Strikin' a pose

This was a pretty intense football game

With 50 kids, it’s hard to divide your time evenly, but we did our best. No sooner had we turned the corner towards the children’s home did they come running towards us to ask us to play with them. I started out playing with the girls, and I think the younger boys got ahold of Tyler. Such simple pleasures! Being fought over by different groups of kids, all with the biggest smiles on their faces, brought me such joy. Like I mentioned in an earlier blog, I taught them Duck, Duck, Goose, and they were content to play for half an hour. You just don’t see that kind of enjoyment out of life in kids in America. Instead, you see kids with TV, movies, video games, and PSPs, plus all the regular childhood games, getting bored with all of those options within an hour. There’s a feeling of restlessness that comes from being given everything; it’s like we know, subconsciously, no matter our religion, that there’s more to life than material things, but we choose to ignore it. The children here have that concept down. Some would say it’s because they’ve never had everything, but even if that’s true, they’re doing something right.

Case in point: we were playing a game called Lock and Key (kind of like freeze tag except you can freeze yourself to be safe from the “it”), and I was it (for the 63^rd time). I was chasing a girl named Revathi around, and out of the corner of my eye I saw something fall to the ground. I glanced around and realized one of Revathi’s earrings was missing. I yelled for everyone to stop and began looking, and after about literally 10 seconds of looking for it, Revathi simply said, “Leave it. Come on, leave it.” I was shocked by this proclamation and was determined to find it. When I finally did, I saw that it had somehow been broken. When I showed it to her and told her how sorry I was, she said, “It really is no matter. Come Aunty, let’s play!”

This rocked me back on my heels. I don’t wear much jewelry, but I do love earrings and have a pretty impressive collection. Even with my many pairs, I would still be sad if one were lost and would at least try to find it; if one were broken I would definitely be sad and want to try and fix it. Yet here I am in India with 50 children, anywhere from 4 to 18 years old, each whose meager worldly possessions amount to three or four outfits, a backpack and their school books, a comb, a toothbrush, and a random toy or two (and for the girls maybe one pair of earrings), who are not corrupted by the false belief that we must surround ourselves with things to be happy. I know many Christians even who mean well but still try to hold tightly to whatever we own in this world; heck, I’m guilty of it. It is so easy to be enamored with the things of this world: cars, homes, jobs, toys, favorite shirts, movie collections, jewelry, even things like household appliances (have you ever met a woman who doesn’t cherish her KitchenAid?). But in the eyes of the Lord, little is much. The less we have, the less distracted we can be by our possessions. The more focused we are on what’s important, the more we are able to further the kingdom of God.

Being an American with an abundance of possessions doesn’t make you a sinner. Our culture simply has more than the cultures of lesser developed nations. But I would challenge you to think about everything you own. Is there a possession that would become a tragedy if it were lost, stolen, or broken? You see, I think Revathi understands something better than many successful Americans. Although she may not have this particular perspective because of her belief in the Lord, she still knows that wealth is not in our possessions. This little girl owns less than 20 items, and when one was destroyed, there was not even a hint of sadness in her face or voice as she told us to continue playing. Do we even realize how many hundreds (maybe even thousands) of things we own? Like, every piece of furniture, every item of clothing, every notebook, every photograph, every hygiene product?

I’m not trying to guilt-trip you about how you have so much more than orphaned or abandoned children in other parts of the world (although I do think there is something to be said for aiming to live a simpler life). But I do want you to think about the weight you put in your possessions. Wouldn’t the world still go on if your favorite shirt was ripped? How about if your laptop crashed to the ground and was broken beyond repair? Would not God still be on His throne if your iPod was stolen? What if your car was totaled? Aren’t people and relationships more important than possessions? Isn’t the Lord bigger and more valuable than anything of this world?

I say little is much. Few possessions equates to greater reliance on the Lord, bigger opportunities to serve Him, better perspective on life, and more freedom to enjoy the simpler things. Little is much when we have eternity in mind. This world has nothing for us; why then do we hold so tightly to the things we own? Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” So where is your treasure? If you say it is in Christ, do you live like it?