You may be so focused on your to-do list that there is no time to ask significant questions that might alter future lists.
"Anyone who has tried to combine earning a living with having a life knows that the two are incompatible. The wonder is that so few publicly acknowledge the incompatibility. Most of us try, in quiet-or not so quiet-desperation, to juggle as best we can." Elizabeth Fox-Genovese
Are you bristling? Would you be willing to hold back your objections for a moment and open yourself to new thinking?
Hear these words from 2 Peter 3:1 (The Message Bible)
"My dear friends, this is the second time I've written to you, both letters reminders to hold your minds in a state of undistracted attention."Seriously? Keep holding those objections back just a bit longer.
What could your life look like if you gave undistracted attention to your passions. Step back from your assumptions that you must work full time, that you must have health insurance, that you must be able to take a nice vacation every year, that you must save for retirement. If taking one step back enabled you to identify your passions, imagine what taking a few steps back could do.
Step back by challenging your thinking. It may seem like everyone in the United States is chasing The American Dream but are they? Is there another way to live out our time on this earth? You may find the dream to be a myth.
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I love this.
ReplyDeleteI want to add in the question about the American Dream. Is it really the dream of everyone? Or, if you look deeper does it turn out that it is, in fact, also the American Prison of Deception?
All you have to do is look at the tabloids. Yes, we all know Hollywood is messed up, but look deeper into WHY it's messed up. People go to Hollywood with hopes of becoming big and famous and rich and think that that will just solve all of their problems. And yet years later all you see with them is rehab, scandal, rehab, bankruptcy, rehab, etc. This is specifically one of the reasons Jesus told the rich to 'go and give away all you have and follow me'.
I actually just wrote about this very topic a day or two ago. I have no plans for college (at least at this point), no 401k, and beaches do not sound appealing if I have to travel more than 30 minutes away. I know someone who would label me as irrisponsible and rather insane. But if sacrificing my acceptance into being labeled as 'normal' in today's society is what I have to do to follow Christ, so be it. I gladly take that rebuke, publicly or privately.
Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. - Galations 1:10
I remember reading a sermon that talked about Satan presenting the bait and hiding the hook. I think that can be said about the American dream. It's the bait and the hook is the deception. Paul was content in whatever state he was in. I know we are not to seek riches. If we have riches we have a greater responsibility. Did you read my blog about how we view ourselves? It is the one with a plate of nice food and people picking cotton.
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