Entitlement. It's a word that I've been wondering a lot about these past few days. What makes a person entitled to something? What makes feeling entitled okay? WHEN is it okay? After coming home from Haiti, the fact that I saw so much selflessness, & so much love for OTHERS, I wonder is it EVER okay for me to feel entitled? I have so much. Literally everything I could ever hope to materially possess is right at my fingertips, waiting for me to buy it, revel in it, love it, enjoy it, & in two weeks, dispose of it. The people in Haiti have next to nothing, & yet they trust it ALL to God. Every. Last. Thing.
I've come to question so much of what I have been taught is socially acceptable, & "Christian". There are so many things that, after truly sitting down & thinking about them, I have realized aren't Biblical, & are actually quite the contrary. We have all been taught "Stranger Danger!" Which when used properly is a VERY good idea, but we have also been taught to take that to the extreme. When was the last time you said "Hi!" to a stranger while you WERE NOT working? Seriously. Tell me. Because before Haiti, I couldn't have told you. Proverbs 14:10 says "The Heart knows its own bitterness. & a stranger does not share its joy." We have become a nation, & generation, where we are all strangers. None of us share the joy of others, unless it is convenient for us to do so. We have become selfish in our way of thinking, & we only appear to not be so because of our deep desire to be accepted by everyone else & have them share in our own joys. We have all become so lost in the way of the world, so convinced that we are forever forgotten, we spend so much time thinking on our own "Insignificance" to others, we fail to see that everyone is feeling that way, that everyone thinks themselves insignificant to us, because we fail to pay attention to them, being busy feeling sorry for ourselves.
There are so many things that I now wish to change about myself, & the way I view not only the world, but its people therein, & how they live their lives. I've realized that I will generally look for the best way to make myself comfortable when doing things for others, so I can then say I'm being a "good" person, without too much inconvenience to myself, but like I said before, that is wrong, & (again) in Haiti, I learned & saw what the difference is. Here you are practically a saint if you hold the door open for someone, in Haiti a little 6 year old girl scraped the wet cement off of my hands, & wouldn't allow me to touch hers for fear of mine getting dirty again. She had cement on her hands, arms, face, on her pretty dress, & she was more concerned for my hands & work clothes than herself. Most of America was just shown up by a little girl who, to our standards, had nothing & every right to hate me.
The Haitian people have been used immensely by God in teaching me so many valuable lessons. & even though I am home, they are still being used daily, not only in my own life, but in the lives of everyone they meet.
well. all in all, I'd say this post has been all over the place, & so I will put an end to my ramblings for now. I do have one more thing to add though, just a quick little plea, Please don't ever forget that God has an amazing plan! Whether it be what you want, or whether it be the complete opposite, trust it, & Him, to know what's going on.
