Perspective

I’ve been bouncing this post around in my head for a while now, actually, since July.  But I haven’t sat down and written it out until now.

Disclaimer: this is not a “please feel sorry for us” kinda post. this is a “lets gain some perspective and look at the world beyond our own front door” kinda post.

David and I don´t make very much money. David makes C$3080 a month. When he started at his job 2.5 years ago and the exchange rate was $1US to C$20 cordobas he was making $150 US dollars a month. (Not per day or per week, per month). But since then inflation has decreased that even more.  Now, $1US equals C$24, which means David’s salary has dropped to $125 US dollars a month. That’s $1500 a year.

I make $25 US a day (Sometimes $30 – it depends on the organization) translating for groups. I hope to translate for at least one team a month. Sometimes that doesn’t happen (ex. Nov/Dec = NO TEAMS), other times I have tons of teams all in a row (ex. Jan-March and June-July). On average I bring in about another $125US a month. Our combined income is around $250 dollars month.

But here’s the thing: We’re not poor.

We have a solid house built with blocks and cement, a metal roof over our heads, tile floor, glass windows. We have cable tv,  we have clothes to wear, we eat three meal a day. I have books to read, Bethany has toys to play with, we have electricity and running water. We have a motorcycle, cell phones, shoes, shampoo, and toothpaste. We eat meat at least once a day. We don’t have parasites, skin infections, disease.

We are blessed indeed.

When you look at the numbers, sure, we don’t make much. But when you look at what we have…wow! How could we ask for anything more, when there are so many people who have so much less.

Living in Nicaragua you don’t have to look far to find poverty. Some of our next door neighbours live in scrap houses. Translating for medical clinics I see kids all the time with curable diseases and malnutrition, my own husband spent part of his childhood eating two meals a day. Minimum wage here is less the $100US a month, and there are family with multiple children living on one income. No matter how little you think you have, there is always someone who has less than you.

And here’s the other thing: We’re happy.

We may not go out to restaurants very often, or to the movies, or buy new clothes or toys, but we are happy. I always heard that the number one thing newly-weds fight about is money. Maybe if you don’t have any there’s nothing to fight about? haha. But seriously though, David and I hardly argue over money. We know what our priorities are: 1. Food, 2. Bills, 3. Everything else. As long as we get number 1 & 2 covered, then we can talk about how we want to spend any left over money on number 3.

So why am I telling you all this?

I want to remind you to count your blessings. Its pretty easy to feel down about not having a lot of money, and I do sometimes. I worry when I don’t have work. But then I count my blessings. I make a mental list like the one I wrote out above and remind myself about how much God has provided for us. Then I’m thankful.

I want you to consider what are you “wants” vs. “needs”. Have you ever considered sponsoring a child through an organization like Compassion Int., but then decided that you didn’t have enough money? I bet you have enough. I challenge you to re-evaluate what you NEED and WANT and you can probably free up the $41/month you need to sponsor a child in need.

I want you to remember that you can do so much with what God has given you. When I lived in Canada I always felt like I didn’t have enough even though I made a lot more money then we do now. Now I know that I had more then enough. I could have done so much with the money God blessed me with.

A change in perspective is a good thing.

-Julia

Just a reminder: I have to approved all comments you leave before they are published. So, if you are thinking about writing anything negative, don’t bother – I won’t approve it!

---