longing for simpler times

I find myself lately longing for simpler times. The simple things where things aren't so complex or multi-faceted. Life here in the Western world drains me. I think of all that we have and all we preoccupy ourselves with, and then I think about what it gets us. I think about how little, people in 3rd World countries have, but how they seem to cope with that reality in ways we can't imagine. We (in the West) have so much "stuff" but have an insanely high rate of depression, anxiety, and other mental/emotional infirmities. The inventions we create to make our life easier (microwaves, washing machines, stoves, dishwashers, etc etc etc) end up contributing to the overall disaray inside our overstimulated minds. A break occurs.

They on the other hand, have none of these luxuries. But you sit with them and talk to them, and you end up envying their outlook on life. They are much more emotionally stable. It makes you wonder about things. Well, it don't make me wonder, cause I believe I have my alloted course in life. But one of the girls who came back from Pemba, Mozambique this summer penned this in a mass email to all of us HoGi's,

"I kept imagining myself back in Mozambique, in the dirt and with the poor where I had nothing, owned nothing, but was truly ecstatic in Him."

This quote sums up what I feel. "Having nothing, yet possessing everything" (2Corinthians 6:10) in Jesus. There it is; it's freedom. It's an amazing mindset.

Yeah, sometimes, less is more. (1 Timothy 6:8)