Musty Mansion

We are staying in a mansion ... well, so it looks like from the outside. We are in Aceh temporarily working at a MAF base here since we can't go home to Borneo. There's a guest house available for our use and we are very thankful for it ... but being here it is reminding me of something important.

Of course there's the obvious, that one should spend money on installing a sink and a shower in the bathroom rather than crown moulding in the bathroom (no joke, this is the situation here) and then there's the beautiful gold-plated banister, but the bed mattress is moldy.

It is as though cash was spent for the purpose of show, but the actual day-to-day important stuff of showering and sleeping was left out.

And I wonder how much this is true of me. How much time and energy do I spend on things that really don't matter, things that are just for show.

And on the other hand, how much time and energy do I spend on the things that really matter ... the moment when I take the time to kiss my baby's sore finger, the thoughts that are truthful and pure, the prayers that are prayed in secret but make all the difference ... eternal stuff. What lasts.

The moulding looks rather silly in the sink-less bathroom and the banisters look like waste when I am sleeping in musty sheets.