Who Has the Good Life? (Pack of 10)

Author’s note: Entering a foreign culture is cause for reflection and opportunity for comparison. Sitting on the plane returning from a mission trip to Tanzania, Africa,
and then waiting for a delayed connecting flight in a busy DFW airport, my thoughts turned in this direction.

Though Americans and Tanzanians live on the same planet, they live in different worlds. In so many ways we are a hundred years ahead of them—medically, technologically, educationally, and materially.

We would not consider trading places with them. In areas like transportation, food preparation, hygiene, farming, and entertainment, their lifestyle does not even register on the same scale with the American way of life. For these reasons, we feel
sympathy for them.

But in other ways, they still have what we left behind. They seem to enjoy life and laugh
a lot more than most Americans (Proverbs 17:22). They still have time for Bible classes
and preaching (1 Corinthians 1:18). They have large families with plenty of children playing all around (Psalm 127:3–5). They still enjoy the simple pleasures we gave up long ago. They are not rushed; they have time to “stop and smell the roses.” For these reasons, we find ourselves a little envious.