Austerity

Terrill and Amber are colleagues of ours in Uganda. We arrived in East Africa at the same time and so got to know them during our 'orientation' before we went our separate ways, us to Mbeya and them to northern Uganda. When we start our new assignments in Uganda next year we hope to see more of them. They have a good blog and recently wrote some interesting thoughts about begging, being 'rich', and about praying. They started their post by saying...

Being rich among the very poor puts one in the odd position of being like God, in this way: as God has MORE than all of us, we have MORE than the very poor. Those who have LESS go to those who have MORE, so that they can get MORE of whatever is it they want or need. I wouldn't want to presume to know what God 'feels' like when billions of people ask him for 'goods' or 'services' each day. But, to the degree that I am godlike (made in God's image), a person blessed with abundant resources, is it possible I know a little what God feels like when dozens of people ask me for goods and services each day?

To read the rest of their post (and more like it) click here. As I read it this morning it got me thinking. At this time of apparent 'austerity' in the UK (and many other places around the world), it is important that we recognise how relatively rich we all are. Without exception there are people who are worse off than we are. How we let this impact us is up to us. Do we ignore it and feel sorry for ourselves? Do we feel guilty and try and get rid of our wealth? Do we try and help by giving money and/or time? Do we let it remind us of our relationship with God and the grace with which he treats us?