I read the latest blog of my son, Roman. He is enumerating his experiences as a volunteer staff of Mexico Caravan Ministry. The "discipline" he feels makes me smile. Well, I am a typical Asian parent, a first generation immigrant, living in a developed country. My husband and I often tell our children how hard our lives were, when we were young.
We do not have showers in our bathroom. We have a pail of water and a bucket. In Tagalog term, "timba at tabo". On my part, I have to fetch water from a well. I fill up two big pails, carry one from each hand, and bring those into a big drum in a Jack and Jill bathroom. If I want to use warm water, I have to boil H2O. Every Sunday, my cousins and I congregate around the well located inside the big yard of my cousin's parents. We fill up our own "batya" and wash our own clothes. Every week, we wash our clothes. Every week we iron our clothes. Here in Canada, my kids wash and dry their own clothes using a washer and dryer.
When I was young, I always wash the dishes in the evening, using the traditional method, not an automatic dishwasher.
I have no concept of one-person-per-room as I got used to sleeping on a bunk bed, which is situated in a living room. Bathroom is shared by 16 people. I also experienced an outhouse in the 1960s. I hate it but I do not have a choice.
My grandma would prepare two sets of dessert - but I have to choose which one I like - a banana cut in half or a slice of mango. Our food were always allocated. No wonder I do not have to worry about getting fat. My cousins, brother and sister, were only putting enough calories to burn for the day.
Television was shared by 16 people and usually, my grandma gets to choose which program to watch.
I walk to and from school, if there's no available jeepney. By the way, I learned how to drive when I was 31. Now, my sons assert their rights to drive at age 16.
This is the reason I would like my kids to experience living in Tijuana, Mexico. They have to be thankful for the modern convenience they are having in Canada. On the other hand, they have to develop an attitude of thankfulness for whatever "way-of-life" they experience in Mexico. Life is not about convenience. Our Saviour did not choose to be a man to be served but to serve to the point of dying on the cross for our nastiness.
Is it convenient to obey God's will? I don't think so. But, inconvenience, if accepted joyfully, produces perseverance, patience, discipline, godly character, wisdom and understanding. If we develop these righteousness, then inconvenience becomes Godly convenience.
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