This is from a post a wrote last year:

I have learned to love the simple life. Don’t get me wrong. I do miss my car, Starbucks, couches and hot showers. But I have gained a new perspective on my possessions and what are true life necessities. America has a high standard on the needs of daily life and since my time here, I have come to appreciate life without all the extras. How life can be exciting and full of satisfaction without the things the TV or internet ads tells us we must have now. I do love a dinner out with friends or a movie date. But is life’s happiness tied to commercial enterprises? Not for me.

Fijians have taught me so much about the core ingredients to happiness just by living among them. Family, faith, food and shelter. How every meal is homemade and does not have TV at the head of the table. How God provides for our needs, however material they are. And for me, I had to go to the middle of the Pacific Ocean to realize that truth. In America, I did know these truths but never applied them or called them my own. There was always a blog to read, a TV show to watch or a gas tank to feed.

When I return home, I hope and pray this happiness recipe sticks. That I will enjoy my routine and be thankful for all of life’s blessings, big or small. I will still love grabbing a cup of joe or watching TLC but it will be with recognition of how much of a luxury it is to have money to afford them. It will be in company with ones I love. It will never be taken for granted. I look forward to the homemade dinners and family conversations. To the time spent working around the house and sharing a conversation over coffee made at home. To know that having hot water and a car is a blessing so many people cannot afford. I will be satisfied with all the blessings God has given me because it is oh so good just the way it is.

Being home, I need to read this everyday.