I can remember just like it was yesterday when I wanted the best pair of sandals in the second grade. My best friend across the street had them and most of all my favorite teacher had them. Not only could I not find them anywhere to buy but I am pretty sure my mother refused to get them for me. They were kind of grown up sandals which is why I wanted them cause I saw how awesome they looked on my best friend. Of course, looking back on that now I realize those sandals were absolutely HIDEOUS! My friend would also agree til this day, and probably the teacher. But in the heat of the moment I thought that having those shoes was the one thing I absolutely needed no matter what. I thought that I just had the worst luck when I did not get them and my life was just so boring. You that dramatic stage we go through as a child? The stage where mom and dad won't buy the candy at the store or newest game that literally every kid on the planet had. And when we wouldn't get that item we would think that no body else had it as bad as we do because well without those awesome things are lives are flat our boring.
Being in the body of a child you never truly understand how good we have it living where we are. And even as adults we tend to never realize how good we truly have it. We all get so caught up in our jobs, marriage, school, activities, material possessions, and everything else on this planet. This world is so beautifully made and crafted by the one and only but it is so distracting. Tell when the last time was that you actually sat down to do your work for the evening and you did not have ANY setbacks?? I can't even walk up the stairs with my work for the night without checking my Facebook probably a thousand times or ranting to my family members about my day. It is definitely not a bad thing to debrief your day to your family or relax on your phone but it is such a horrible thing when it takes you away from the true task. You know...when I come home from a busy day at work or school or an activity all I see is that it is really late and I did not even touch my homework. Or I will have those days where I have absolutely nothing! I mean, come on those are truly THE BEST DAYS EVER! You could watch TV all night until you finally have to turn in or you could catch up on your favorite book or go out and actually socialize with other humans!
Those nights where I have nothing, I tell myself that I really should catch up on my quiet times but I compromise and say I will relax from the day by watching some TV for an hour or so. My plans of TV for no more than two hours turns into six hours, no workout that I desperately needed to get back into, and most importantly...no quiet time. Actually relaxing and not worrying about anything is such a huge flaw in my life! I will literally watch the hours pass and I just am too lazy to get up. Yeah it is great having that time where I can just relax by myself but it is too the point that I forget the world around me and its not like I'm doing a quiet time.
There was a time where week where I removed the Facebook icon from my main phone screen. The only thing I got on for was to post my blog post for the week. The first few days was horrible because when I found myself bored without anything to do, I had NOTHING to do. That one little social network had consumed my mind so much that there was never new feed for me to see because I was on every single second. These were the seconds that I could be filling to read the bible and do the devotions that I was neglecting. I was (and still do at times) focusing so much on the material things that I had no heart for the word of God. Possessions of this world are great things but they are so destructive. They are not all bad...tools of this world that we acquire daily help us live especially with technology today. It literally runs this world! For prime example, I use this blog site to get the words or God through my viewers and this computer is definitely a material possession. We can get connected through the things of this world that can actually further our missions field. But when it comes to the point that the ways of this world rules ours, is when we lose sight of what truly matters.The best thing to tell yourself when you can't put your phone down or you just want to go to the next level of angry birds is that the things of this world will all melt away and will not leave its mark in our hearts on their own. The ways of this world will leave its mark if we allow it!
We just went a bit off topic there so let us narrow back to the main point of the lesson! Having all these things is life is actually hard. We have to make sure we are happy! Now a days, if you don't have the newest iPhone (they must be at like iPhone 45s now right!??!) then you do not have all the world has to offer. I never noticed how "awesome" the iPhone was until literally every single human on the earth had it. I love my smart phone, the android is the way to go and I could care less if I have an iPhone. But some people consider having a track phone or a phone WITHOUT internet (yes they still do exist) is roughing it through life.
There are few times were I really sit back and look at my life and say, "I really am more than okay and my prayers for myself can be cut short to be more focused on those that really need it." The number one problem with telling yourself that others out there have it worse is how we do it. We think that we have to totally neglect ourselves to the point that for a couple of prayers solely on others we tell ourselves that we owe it to ourselves to treat our lives right. This is the point that we shouldn't reach! God calls us to look to those the we would consider "below" us and make ourselves equal. Maybe we don't need to bring them up to "our level" but on a level that neither of us are on.
The two wonderful trips I took to the Dominican Republic for missions trip was the most rewarding thing ever. I remember being scared of what I would see in those villages that were hit so hard. I pictured myself not being able to connect to the poorest people I have ever been in contact with. My hear was so ready to serve God but when we drove through the countryside on the back of an open truck I told myself God brought me here as a child of God, not as a child brought up through plentiful possessions. As soon as we pulled into the village the kids came running and screaming! For the first time in my life I finally knew what it felt like to be famous, no lie! They were so excited to have people come to just constantly love on them that they were literally "jumping for joy." All of the children wanted to be picked up and held for eternity which made it so heartbreaking to leave them. As soon as I had one of the children in my arms I looked into the little girls eyes and it seemed as if everything stopped. God was there...he was there the whole time.
This little girl was so quite but that did not stop her from gently feeling the strands of my pulled back hair and just being in awe of who I was and she didn't even know me. Through the eyes of this girl I was hope. I was a child of God that loved her and cared enough to pick her up even though her outward appearance did not match mine. For once I thought that this world could be on one level and boundaries would disappear. As I walked through the village it really hit me that the children the words of that village because the people in it were simply out of words. Some still had hope but a majority of them I saw that the hard things in there life took everything out of them.
From then on I knew that I did not have it bad at all. Yeah I will have rough times and the one thing that will continue to save me from falling completely into that is the hope in that little girls eyes. Her world screamed disaster but her heart showed more peace than I could ever imagine. You would think that us having more things in life and being better off, that we can show them to rise above their adversity. But I find it to be the opposite...maybe it is when we look like we are at our lowest when we truly learn the best lessons in our lives. I think the problem with most average people, they tend to give everything to the world that they lose themselves. You can guess what verse this applies to...
Luke 9:25
"What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?"
We worrying so much about gaining everything in this world that we lose sight of what life is truly about. This makes us think that we have it the worst when things don't go our way but let us not forget what others lives are like. This doesn't mean that we won't have rough times, this means that we should take those times to better our lives instead of dwelling on them. The hard things ARE worth it they just need the most work.
When you find yourself complaining about your life and you know that you are just letting life get to you...not only remind yourself that others have it worse but Satan can outwit our emotions very easily.
2 Corinthians 2:11
"...in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes."
Word of the Day: "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."
~Psalm 1:1-2
No comments:
Post a Comment