Taking things for granted

Living in this part of the world has made me realize SO many things and has especially made me realize how we in the west are SO blessed. There have been so many things that I take for granted. The other day I was sitting at the table with Judah feeding him oatmeal with a gerber baby spoon that I brought from the states. You know the kind that change color if the food is too hot. Just something as simple as that will put people in awe over here. When our friends Anup and Saroja were over the other day I showed them the spoon and she was so surprised. She said that she is for sure going to have to tell her friends that she works with at school about the spoon. Little things like that remind me of how much we take for granted at home......Running water, hot running water at that, electricity, gerber baby spoons, well made toys, educational toys for kids, (another thing people are in awe of) washing machines, vacuum machines, structure in our society, customer service, kindness, knowing not to smack the heck out of a loved one, knowing that it is wrong to lie, there is SO much and I could go on and on and on....but I am learning to be thankful for all things. There is a verse in the Bible that came to my mind the other day, it is found in Romans 12:16. It says, "Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation." In the footnote, it also says, accommodate yourself to lowly things. Many of the people that we have befriended over here are from low caste in this culture or are just very poor. (oh, that is another thing I have taken for granted, that we have no real caste in the states and there is room for opportunity or to better yourself)
Anyway, the boys that live with us come from very poor families, our friends Anup and Saroja are from a low caste and we have three girls that come over about once a week that are from a very low caste. I say all this to say, that having them in our lives has made us realize how so very lucky and blessed we are as Americans. I wonder if this is partly why God wants us to associate with the lowly, so that we don't get too caught up in "keeping up with the Jones'" ya know, when you are surrounded by people that have all the coolest and latest gadgets, it is hard not to want to follow suit. But when we are surrounded by others that are in need, it makes us realize that we are blessed and we really don't even need all of the "stuff" anyway. Don't get me wrong here, Mike and I have our share of stuff, and our friends are in amazement, but I have been continually reminded that I am blessed....and I am thankful for the friends that God has brought into our lives to remind us of that.