By VOH Team Member James Yount
The balloon is often, without us realizing it, our first introduction to the power of gravity. It teaches us with joyful enthusiasm that what goes up must also come down. Every child, no matter their geographical location, seems to love playing “keepy uppy,” as my amazing nieces call it.
As I sat today, observing the joy that balloons brought to a small village in rural Uganda, two powerful concepts struck me like a frying pan to the face.
The first is that life is often like a balloon. It goes up, then it comes back down. But for the balloon to rise higher again, it must be struck with a much greater force to achieve greater heights. This is also true in life. We rise, and we fall. This is the ebb and flow of existence. It is only through constant perseverance and relentless determination that we must “strike back” time and time again, getting up and moving forward to the next mountaintop.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer,
Romans 12:12
The second and most important lesson I learned is to enjoy the simple things. To let go of the concept of more—that I need a bigger home, a better car, a larger TV, or whatever else my Western eyes may see as not good enough.
Rather than focusing on striving to attain more, I need to focus on living in constant gratitude for the beauty, bounty, and wonderful blessings I already have.
Today, and each day going forward, I will do my best to appreciate my blessings and the joy that God has bestowed upon me and my family. I also learned all this from watching joyful, happy, and wonderful children of God, in an amazing place called Otino-Waa Children’s Village. Little will those young children under eight ever know how much they impacted this 44-year-old man.
“But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”
1 Timothy 6:6-8