The fact of life in Paraguay

I have spent the last three days attempting to settle into life in Paraguay.  Unlike the states where I can run to Wal-Mart or Lowe’s and find exactly what I need from the smallest screw to the largest lawn chair, life runs differently here.  I visited three stores before finding the hook from which I can hang my laundry line.  

I’ve also experienced a different kind of help.  In my quest to locate an adapter for one of my appliance’s cords, I was told to break off the third prong that didn’t fit into the two prong outlet.  Problem solved..Hmm.

As the days have passed, I’ve had to do some soul searching.  Two questions keep bouncing around in my thoughts.  First, why does comfort equal possessions?  Am I really more comfortable if I have a string to hang my bedroom curtain on instead of using two nails?  Do I need to saturate my house with things just to be comfortable?  And why do I think I have the right to be comfortable?  Where in the Bible does it promise comfort to believers?  What passage encourages believers to pursue comfort with all their energy? 

I do know Paul mentions suffering, persecution, hardship, and grief, and come to think of it, Peter and James also use this vocabulary.  So where’s comfort in the list?

So I ask again how many possessions does it take to achieve a quality of life that the Bible never promises the child of God?

Maybe the problem lies with making comfort and contentment synonymous.  To have comfort is to be content and to be lacking comfort is to be lacking contentment.  The Bible exhorts believers to live contentedly, but that isn’t the same as living comfortably.  Does that mean that contentment can stand alone?  Can I have contentment while living uncomfortably?  What does that look like?  Certainly it doesn’t equate to more possessions.

My second question: does, “keeping it real,” and “calling it like it is,” justify complaining?  The Bible clearly states “do all things without complaining or arguing.” (Phil. 2:14) This verse is written as a command and thus to complain is to disobey a command, AKA sin.  In my attempt to be honest with friends and family, have I stepped over the line into sin?  Have I made complaining permissible because it paints a clear picture of reality? 

Jesus said, “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean’. (Matt. 15:18).  Is what’s coming out of my mouth, sin disguised in a trendy phrase, “keeping it real”? 

So in my attempt to be honest without complaining, here is life over the last few days.  Hard, challenging, and at times, frustrating as all get out, but it is also filled with jewels of encouragement, a greater awe of God’s majesty, and a depth of communion with the One who called us here like I have never known. 

Oh for a thousand tongues to sing

My Great Redeemer’s praise

The glory of my God and King

The triumphant of grace.