I have never thought so much about a blanket in my life than I have the last 2 months.  This has been on my heart and mind so much; I have been very stirred and sometimes disturbed.  I know I am living in one of the poorest countries in the world, but sometimes I feel like I am hit by a 2 x 4 in the face with the depth of poverty.  I hear many widow stories, and I talk to many locals and over and over I realize they have no more than 1 MAYBE 2 outfits at best and they have no blankets.  It is rainy season now and sometimes the rain can be brutal.  It pours and storms and the temperature drops, maybe 50’s-60’s (Fahrenheit).  There are no heaters, everything up country (where we live) is open air. 

I go inside and make myself some hot tea and curl up in my blanket.  If my kids come in wet, they change they take warm showers and put on dry clothes and come join me under the blanket.  It hit me the other night, I have never gone 1 single night in my life without a blanket if I wanted one.  And here I am surrounded daily by people who have lived life the exact opposite.  They have never had 1 single night of their lives with a blanket.  It’s such a simple, common, everyday item. 

When I lived in the States, we accumulated so many blankets when the boys were little I had too many to use.  It was almost an annoyance to have so many blankets.  There’s only so many blankets we can use for forts and so many that can go on beds or couches, even as decorations.  We donated some to the local homeless shelter. 

Now I live in Burundi and every single day I wrap myself in a blanket and I thank God for it.  I am living in luxury, because I have a blanket and even more than 1 blanket.  In fact, all 5 of us brought our own favorite blanket we get to use when we’re cold at night or just to warm up if we get a little wet.  What a luxurious item.  At night I lay on a mattress, with a soft blanket under me and I am wrapped in my favorite soft blanket.  Then I lay my head on a nice, soft pillow and I sleep whether it rains or not because I have a beautiful roof over my head that keeps water out of the house.  I lie there and I thank God for these things I now see as luxuries, and I pray for the people surrounding me that don’t have these luxuries.

I can feel bad and even get upset.  Why do I get these nice things?  Why do I get to have the luxuries, and they do not?  Why am I warm and dry?  In all honesty, I don’t have the answers.  This is 1 small aspect of how we feel surrounded by poverty.  We can feel torn.  We feel blessed.  Honestly, we can feel guilty.  I don’t think God intends for us to see and feel the brokenness around us so that we just feel bad.  I think perhaps He lets us see it to move us to action and move us to praise.  I am thanking Him in a deeper way than ever before for the simple things in life that I now see as luxuries.  I am also moved to pray for people and to listen better in how He might want to use me to meet someone else’s need or bless them.  I already get overwhelmed at the thought of returning to the States and accumulating more of the stuff again.  Then I quickly remember He doesn’t have me on that step, so I need not entertain those thoughts.    

It is extremely difficult to be surrounded by poverty, I’m not going to sugar coat it.  But I am so thankful for this time for us as a family.  It is stretching us, it is hurting us, and it is growing us and challenging us in ways I believe we will not regret.