I've come to remember that I can do without... I don't have to have it all, be it all or do it all. I can do without. This covers many areas of my life... material things, opportunities, relationships... you name the category and there are things within it that I can do without. Yes, I know that there are essential elements like oxygen and nutrients that one must have to live, but those are not the things I'm referring to, so don't even go there.
As the season of Advent begins, I have been doing some soul-searching and have come to realize that even though there are some things in my life that I would change if I could, I cannot. There are some things in life that simply cannot be changed under my power and I have accepted that... I have given them over to God for Him to take care of... if He chooses to change them, I'm OK with that, but I'm not going to expend energy that I simply don't have available on them. A cop-out? Perhaps, but I'm tired of the struggle required to try and deal with them myself.
Does that mean that I think I'm in the "got-it-all-together" category? Absolutely not and I'm well aware of my short-comings. I have failed many times when it comes to relationships and my "to-do" list remains long. Will I ever get the relationships fixed or the projects finished? Who knows, but I doubt it this side of heaven. I'm simply going to wave my white flag and try to start living a realistic life without all the self-imposed pressure of trying to live up to standards that I was never designed to live up to. If I've failed you... I apologize and I ask your forgiveness.
On to the materialistic "do withouts"... we just completed a study at church called The Advent Conspiracy... it covers 4 basic themes... Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All... simple concept, but hard to implement sometimes. How do you get people to understand that while you love them, you are simply not going to waste money buying things that they don't need and many times, don't even want this Christmas? And you're not going to simply "swap money" either. And by the way, you want them to do the same. We have bought into the world's economy and left God's economy behind. We try to buy love and we lose sight of the fact that it is not for sale. This Christmas, I'm going to try and focus on what it is really all about... God's gift of Jesus... the ultimate gift of love. There are so many people in the world who have literally nothing... no home, no clothing, no food, no clean water. Those are the people that Jesus calls us to reach out to... to share His love with. It is hard to hear that God loves you when you're homeless, cold, hungry and thirsty. So this year, I'm going to give life gifts in honor of those I love... I mean really... do you want another dust-catcher? Or would it warm your heart to know that someone has had some of those needs met because you have touched my life?
Let's get to the doing without so that others in the world don't have to... let's start building up treasures in heaven.
