On Wednesday nights, our church runs a program called "FriendSpeak" which is basically a "EAL" class. ("English as an Additional Language" - I am not sure why it is not "EAAAL" - maybe more vowels were too costly.... then too - it is English where "lives" and "Live" can sound completely different).
We teach English by getting our readers to read from the Bible - the book of Luke to be exact. Tonight, my buddy Juyon and I were reading through the section that says, "Do not worry about what you will eat.... what you will drink.... look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or harvest but your father in heaven looks after them..... and he knows what you need".
So after we got a handle on the concept that God looks after us and that worry is not only unproductive but "unfaithful"..... we moved on to the questions. Now the questions are mostly there to make sure the reader comprehended the words and the big idea of the lesson - so they are often just "fill in the blank" things.
However, tonight one of the questions was, "What do you worry about?" Juyon looked at me and asked, "What do I worry about.... now?". I said, "yep". He replied, "Nothing! I do not worry. I have wife.... I have job..... house..... everything is ....... (then he swept his hand in front of him in a way that meant "going smoothly").... I am good!"
Now you have to understand..... Juyon came from Korea..... he is almost 40 and his wife is about that age. They both have work - but they are not high paying or fun jobs (waitressing and pumping gas). They live in an apartment that is costing them - because it is Estevan (where there are literally no apartments to be had) - probably four times more than it should (it takes most of one of their cheques just to pay the rent). They have trouble communicating and therefore, even doing even the simplest tasks can be daunting - and yet he sits there and tells me - "I don't worry. Life is good!"
And you know what? I believe him. Why? Because over the last 8 months or so that I have known him, I have never seen him be anything but happy, nice, kind, grateful and smiley. I am sure that he has his days - but I am also sure that I would have a lot more "days" if I were in his place.
Over the past few months, I have been sort of bothered by people around me who are running after "stuff", buying more and more things, going more and more places and still being unhappy and grouchy.
I have even found myself being jealous of people - only to find out later that it was just a facade. That all the "show" was hiding some really deep problems and unhappiness.
And then there is Juyon.
I have said this before and I will say it again.... I go on Wednesday night to help Juyon with his English, but I often leave wondering who is really the teacher and who is the student because I am learning a lot from him.
2 comments:
So true..."stuff" is only "stuff" and should not replace the important things in life. Now if you are in a position to enjoy that "stuff" as a supplement to life, that's an entirely different story, providing that the sole purpose for having it is not to give the illusion (to yourself or others) that all is well. We need to appreciate what we have and be happy to live in a country where we are so richly blessed in so many ways.
Tracy
Yep - if "stuff" is just the extra on top of the important things - then great!
I just wonder if a lot of us remember what the "important things" are half the time. Not many of us would be as happy as Juyon if we were in his position.
Some aren't even happy in the position that they are in (which is considerably better than most people in the world) - but we could be (and we ought to be) - we just have to choose to focus on and be happy about the right stuff.
Thanks Tracy! :)
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