I am watching a seventy year old woman squat down on the floor, reach behind a bed, get up walk from repeatedly from the upstairs part of the house to the downstairs looking for dirty clothes to wash, etc. When she does finally get a hold of clothes that need to be washed she will fill up large plastic containers with water and wash them by hand. Before she looked for clothes it is very likely that she had already finished sweeping with a broom that she had made herself just a few weeks prior. She does all of this with a strength and energy that I have often seemed lacking even in many fifty year olds in my U.S. culture.
All of this just makes me think about how much so many americans complain about what they have to do every day. They don’t want to do this, they respond with disdain at the idea of doing something that they don’t think they should have to do. They are often complaining but then, when asked, will tell you how appreciative they are about what they have.
And I’m not just glorifying Filipino culture, although it is better in ’so’ many ways than the much less appreciative american culture. I recognize that their are complainers in Filipino culture just as their are complainers in every culture. What I mourn the most is how much this complaining separates us from the understanding of God and the gift of Christ that so many more could have. I believe the more that we focus on the things that we don’t have or can’t get, the less likely we are able to see the wonderful gifts that we have been given. The greatest of which has been the man whose life was given so that we could be united with God.
