What does it say about Me . . .

Tonight we had dinner with some friends who are moving to West Africa in a few months to do some really really great work. I realized as we were talking about the preparations they're making that I envy them. I'm even a little jealous. Of a family moving to a developing nation where they won't even be able to receive most of their mail, and they have to get a guard dog to keep people from breaking into their house and clean water isn't guaranteed and internet will be a precious and rare commodity. I don't know what that says about me and my life but I should probably examine it a bit because I'm fairly certain that's a little odd. Even for me. Mostly I'm jealous of how they'll have such great excuses to focus on truly important things, like God and raising their kids and their work for a worthy cause and just those 3 things will pretty much fill their time. Not aimless web surfing, or unnecessary shopping or wasting time watching tv or doing any number of other leisurely pursuits I do fairly regularly. I envy them because they will be in a place so far removed from the more ridiculous pieces of American culture; a place where sometimes your computer won't work and the world won't end. And your phone isn't stuck to your ear 14 hours a day and nobody expects your kids to be in 12 activities every week. Where the things you do each day will more often truly matter. It just sounds really nice. Which, I realize is probably not how most people see what they're doing. And is probably not a fully accurate picture of how their life will be once they get there. So that's my thoughts for today.