I was surprised how many people asked me this question on
our recent trip to the UK. “How do your children cope visiting other children
who have no toys to play with? What do they make of the fact they live in a
good house, while their friends live in poor houses?”
I was surprised because it has never been an issue really.
When she was only 5 years old, my eldest went through a phase of trying to work
out how rich or poor people were by asking me questions such as “Do bus drivers
shop in the market or the supermarket?” They have always been aware some people
have, and others do not. It is how life is. They are very accepting of the
fact. They regularly play with children from poor families and they play with
them just as they do children from a richer family. They are just as happy
sliding down a pile of sand in the backyard and making mud pies, as they are
playing with a fancy doll. It is just what they have always done. They do have
many toys, but they are also used to having to gather up those they no longer
play with so that we can donate them to the local school or poor families.
They are, like any children, anxious to have the latest toy
that was advertised on the television, (not that they get them!) but are also
aware that they are blessed. I think growing up with children who are
materially poorer than them is teaching them to be grateful and not to take
things for granted. They see how much hard work it takes to feed a family, when
they see men sweating it out in the fields around us in the midday sun. They
have accompanied me, since they were babies, on visits to patients and families
living in very poor circumstances. They accompany their father to see the
houses he builds for poor families and join in the celebratory meals of chicken
and rice which the families often offer once a house is complete. Many of their
own second cousins live in much poorer circumstances than ourselves. We do not shield
them from these realities of life. They help me give out school supplies to
sponsored children and Christmas gifts in schools. They see what we try to do
to help others less fortunate than ourselves.
I do teach them that they are blessed; blessed to have a
family that loves them, to have a home and food and clothing, to have an
education and to live in peace and freedom. I hope growing up knowing and
loving people who live in poverty will make them grateful and generous. I hope
it will help them be hard-working and ready to make a contribution to society. I
hope they are growing up knowing God loves the poor and we should too.
Western societies seem to be struggling with a younger
generation who believe they are entitled to many things – said to be the result
of well-meaning parents giving their children everything they want. Toys,
books, clothes and food are so cheap and readily available in the UK, it is
hard to do otherwise! But I think this is a problem when then people think they
are entitled to prosperity, health and long-life. When calamity strikes they
think God has let them down, when He never promised those things in the first
place.
And more than that, they are missing out on the wonderful
things God has promised us. What are toys and clothes in comparison to sacrificial
love, perfect peace and eternal joy? These are the things I want my girls to
value, and they are available to rich and poor alike. I shall continue to
expose my girls to the realities of life, because I think when we serve the
suffering, then we meet Jesus. And that, my friends, is amazing.
