Everything is Relative

Yesterday I was looking through some old photos of one of my trips to Guatemala.  It’s impossible to remember everything that happened but these photos serve as a powerful reminder that everything is relative.  Sometimes I catch myself wishing we had a bigger house or a second car.  And just to clarify “bigger,” I mean more than 1 bathroom.  The reason it works for me to stay-at-home with my kids is because we’ve chosen to live with less.  We make it work.. I’m not complaining.   There are people I know in my circle of friends who are struggling financially just to stay in their homes.  If they lose their home, there is no option B but perhaps shared housing.  Suddenly, having one bathroom doesn’t seem so bad.

Then there are the families I worked along side in Central and South America who have no bathrooms and just an outhouse.  Do you see where I’m going with this?  Everything is relative.   I’m not trying to discount anyone’s feelings and life situation but merely am trying to point out there there will always be someone else out there worse off than you.  If this alone doesn’t plant a seed a gratitude in your heart let me remind you of the other side.

We also know people who live in plush houses triple the size of our home and are quite unhappy.  Sometimes bigger isn’t necessarily better. I believe the farther up you climb the latter of “worldly”" success, the deeper you sink yourself in the “rat race” and cannot escape “keeping up with the Jones” no matter how much you want to believe you were never in the race to begin with. The idea of being content becomes laughable and all the achievements and accolades in the world are never enough.  Again, everything is relative.

I don’t claim to know anything about what makes the world go round, but I am intuitive enough to say that “contentment” is really a great place to be.  When you’re content, it frees you from envy, jealousy, strife, and a sense of entitlement.  Contentment helps you appreciate life and positions you to give freely and live freely with no expectation to receive anything in return.

There will always be someone more successful, more beautiful, more (fill in the blank) than you.  And then again, there will always be those who are less (fill in the blank).  For today I’m going to appreciate my children played all afternoon outside in the glorious sunshine with friends.  Their laughter, singing, jumping, and dancing reminded me how thankful I am to catch these snapshots of their childhood.  Next time my daughter whines about having to do chores, I am going to tell her everything I just shared with you and show her the picture above of the girl who is the same age as her walking miles herding goats.  It’s never too early too learn about relativity and contentment.. don’t you think?

Tagged as: Keeping it Real, life journey