Michael and I plan to move to Asia to do mission work in January 2014. It seems like forever, but there is much to be done and we are trying to be patient. Before we even got married, we came to terms with the fact that we may never own a house. It didn't seem so bad a few years ago when we were just getting out of college, and all of our friends were living in apartments and working temporary jobs like us.... it's gotten a little harder to swallow in the past year. Now our friends are getting married, settling down, starting careers, buying houses, and starting their families. And we're still waiting. I was having a really tough time with this, so Michael and I decided to sit down and have a heart to heart. My husband is wise beyond his years. At some point during our conversation, it hit me. Life is not about pursuing the American Dream. While others around me are building their earthly homes, I am at peace knowing that each I step on earth is building my real home - my eternal home. I may not have a lot of nice stuff - we live in an apartment, we drive old cars, our couch was free from a friend of a friend and has a few holes in it - but I have great treasure in Heaven. Now I think about things and believe that people have reason to envy me! I'm not settling on this earth. I have something so much better in store. Maybe that's one reason why Jesus tells us that it is harder for the rich to get to heaven. They have settled on earth. They have stored their treasures here and feel perfectly content with this life and the treasures that they have. But for those of us who are storing our treasures in heaven, we have no reason to hold on to this earth. Sometimes when I'm having a really tough day, I find myself thinking "I can't wait to go home." And then I realize that I am at home. The first time I noticed that I did this, I was a bit disturbed. Now I understand. Even my "home" isn't really my home. My home is in heaven, and I can't wait to get there!
You're awesome and I am not wise. I love you.
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts, good thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking, people are like cattle (minus the spots). Using the movie 'Australia' as a reference point, ponder the habits of cows. They meander without much drive or purpose beyond their hunger. They literally move with the herd. They go where they are directed without putting up much of a fight.
In many ways, I see people as doing the same. We graduate high school, go to college, get a job, get married, have kids, buy a house, have some more kids, buy a bigger house, retire, then die. The people who do this are considered normal; average. These people are not the focus of books and T.V. shows. Instead, we read about the people who dont act like cows. The anti-cows. If the anti-cows are the novel, interesting, highlighted group, I have to wonder why. I have decided it's because they "get" something the rest don't. They have insight the others dont. Further, because their lives are given so much more attention, they must have it "right." I, like you, want to be an anti-cow. Not because it's the "right" thing to do, but because I see that this life is better than moving with the herd. Spiritually speaking, the life of an anti-cow is best. To be freed from earthly bondages of the Jones'es, debt, etc. will be entirely liberating when it is achieved. This is also the point at which you really can do anything God desires of you.
It also makes me feel bad for those still living in the herd. I dont think they would stay there if they saw what life outside could be. I feel bad that they are so entrenched in the life pattern that they cant see another way. Now I wonder what I should do to help them...