What is your poverty?

Before Steve and I traveled around Guatemala I spent a week in a remote area of Guatemala in the cloud forest. Sounds enchanting, right? It pretty much is.

I took a group of 80 LDS single, young professionals (oh dear!) on an expedition to the villages we work in. We have never taken a group this size before and it was....a little crazy but also very amazing. We hiked through the jungle or rode in the back of pickups to get to the different villages where the projects were. We helped to build a water system, the very first middle school in the whole area, a health clinic and a school kitchen. We also did some educational pieces and had a health and dental clinic. Phew, I'm exhausted just talking about it!

Each time I go I am always surprised at how happy the villagers are. They have very little as far as material things go...

...in fact they have very little of the things we consider basic necessities (food, clean water, clothing, comfortable shelter, access to health care and education) and yet they are always smiling.

I've never seen the children fight or bicker. When we bring toys to share with them they always politely take their turns. There is no sense of entitlement or selfishness. They are happy. I admire them for this.

I always come back from the villages a little anxious, a little nervous about how I can possibly raise my future children to not feel entitled to the latest video game or newest cell phone gadget. How can I raise children to not be overwhelmed by the plethora of choices at their fingertips...always wanting the better product, never being satisfied with what they have? How can I raise happy children who don't need "things" to make them happy? What is the secret that these villagers know so well? Are they really poor? Or are they really wealthier than us in many ways?

I offer up this thought. Wherever we live, whoever we are, we each have our own poverty and we each have our own wealth. "Stuff" does not necessarily make us wealthy and the lack of it does not necessarily make us poor. So, I encourage you to decide for yourself. What is your poverty and what is your wealth? Does it make you happy? If not, perhaps it is time to adjust our lives and find out what really makes us smile.