Different Priorities

Our 1st day in Nigeria last summer, I remember Danny McCain saying, ¨Their priorities are different than yours. Clean houses... clean bathrooms, clean kitchens are not a priority. Relationships are the priority.¨ Danny and his family are from Louisiana but have lived in Nigeria for 22 years.
I have thought of those words several times during this trip. It´s okay not to have a clean or nice house. It´s okay to not have matching dinnerware, or running water all the time. It´s okay to use plastic chairs instead of pews in church. And it´s ok to be a few minutes late because you were talking with a friend in the street. Shouldn´t relationships always be the priority? These material things are not necessary for a Christian lifestyle, which really is the priority, or should be. Just because these things seem important to me, coming from our culture, doesn´t mean that they actually are important in the scheme of things. And just because some people don´t have nice things doesn´t mean they even want them. It´s all what we´re used to.
When Steph and I were at Lake Atitlan, with all the indiginous people, we were talking about what it would be like if they would come to the US. Why would they want to give up living on this beautiful lake, with a community of people they know, and relatively simple lifestyles, to live in the US? And actually, most of them probably wouldn´t want that. I think I tend to feel like most people would like to live in the US if they had the opportunity, when it really isn´t the case. They wouldn´t have their family, couldn´t speak the language, and, according to that website Ann showed us in Community Health class, their health would start deteriorating basically from the minute they entered.
But for me, growing up in the US and now being immersed in this lifestyle for 2 months, it will be a challenge to take what I´ve learned and incorporate it into my life at home. I do enjoy fashion, decorating, and making things look nice. I know they are not that important in the big picture, but I don´t think it´s ¨bad¨ to care about those things. I just need to make sure they are not the priority. I should give my time and money willingly (when I get a job!) to the church or charities, and see what is left for the extra things, rather than the other way around.