Priority Living

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If reincarnation was a real thing, I have decided…I would like to come back as my Chihuahua Nemo. That dog has got the life, I’m telling you. He doesn’t have to work so he just lies around all the live long day simply relaxing, and not just on the carpeted floor. Nemo rests his head upon a feathery, fleece encrusted, body pillow personally crafted for him by my mom. He takes numerous vacations to the lake house where he is free to run around unleashed and, on more than one occasion, has tasted the heavenly goodness of rib-eye steak. If you were to take an inventory of his entire day, there would only be one priority that engages his attention: using the bathroom.

I realize that I am talking about a dog here, really I do, but there is something about his life that just makes me feel…well, hectic. I go to work every day. I go grocery shopping every week. I make dinner every night. I save money every month. I try to get more money every minute. I vacation every year and I preoccupy myself with worry every second. I’m starting to wonder if I have missed what life is supposed to be all about.

Matthew 6:25-26
“Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” – NIV

If other people were to take an inventory of how we spend our time, or how we spend our money, what would they say about our priorities? Would they say that we spend far too much time on the outside or that we concentrate on what really matters on the inside?

As a culture, spiritually speaking, we tend to spend all our efforts trying to sustain ourselves so that we might soon begin to experience life. The catch is that we never get around to the experience part because we are spending all our time sustaining it. In the eternal scheme of things, decorations, work, clothes, etc. have no value – they only support what is valuable – life.

Are we living our lives as though the wrapping was more important than the gift?