I think that the thing everyone wants most in life is to find their place. The spot where they fit.
I'm not talking about fitting in or anything. I'm talking about finding and then leading the kind of life that satisfies.
Unfortunately, nothing on this huge, blue marble will ever satisfy. Ever. It may provide some slight satisfaction, but it does not provide ultimate satisfaction.
Again, I have to make a distinction: happiness and satisfaction.
What I'm talking about when I say satisfaction is just knowing that you are in the right place. If you know you are on the right path and are where you are supposed to be, it doesn't matter what kind of hardship or storms come- even if you are unhappy, you know you are in your place.
Your niche.
Your 'home', so to speak.
As I enter my final years of High School, people continually ask me where I want to go to college and what I want to major/minor in. Every time, I have to give a rather noncommital answer because, at this junction, I'm not sure where to go.
And they always respond the same way. "...Well, I'm sure you'll figure something out."
Which translates to, "This kid has no goals? No dreams? No motivation? He's in trouble."
It's not that I don't have dreams and things I aspire to. It's not that I don't have things I would like to accomplish before I die. I've got my 'Bucket List' so to speak.
People always expect you to choose a career path and then let your career define the rest of your lifestyle.
For instance, I had a Bible teacher who was also a musician. I knew another teacher who was write novels outside of his job.
When people hear that someone has a multi-faceted life, it tends to amaze them.
So when people take the time to genuinely listen to me about what I might want to do, they always use that response. "...Well, I'm sure you'll figure something out."
Mainly because all my ideas on what I wish to do with my life conflict with each other. Majorly.
How does one combine a comic book artist, a teacher, a pastor, a writer, a screenwriter and director, a musician, a veterinarian, an artist/photographer, a zoologist, and a psychologist/psychological profiler?
I've been thinking a lot about this lately.
It always seems to come down to two lists:
'What I Want' OR 'What God Wants For Me'
They tend to be really different.
Here's how you start:
1) Get a piece of paper.
2) Write down every possible career option you are interested in and leave some space between each one.
3) When you've done that, write a brief sentence explaining how this could be beneficial/helpful/enjoyable/whatever.
4) Read over your list.
5) This is the important one: Crumple up that list and throw it in the trash.
Exercise in futility, huh?
God has a plan for everyone. A predestination. It's all mapped out. However, as humans, we DO have a free will.
So maybe, instead of trying to lay out our life plans, we just need to start preparing. Training. Getting ready.
Be knowledgeable. Understand the world and the realities around us, and learn to live truly as an awakened Christian in society. Wake up and be ready.
Jesus uses the metaphor for the Second Coming of a 'thief in the night'. He tells us to be ready, because we don't know the day or the hour.
In Exodus, during the first Passover with Moses and the Israelites, they ate with their cloaks tucked into their belts. They made food that could be easily transported and didn't need to be carefully attended- unleavened bread. They stayed in huge groups sharing this meal, WAITING.
It was like a runner at his mark, waiting for the shot. Every fiber of his being is focused intently on his goal- mind, body, soul. Their cloaks were tucked in. They were ready to move. Ready to pack up and go.
Remember in Matthew 19, when the man comes to talk to Jesus about how to get eternal life? Jesus tells him to sell all his earthly possessions and follow Him. The man doesn't do it.
How about in Matthew 8:18-22? A guy comes up to Jesus and says, "I will follow you, just let me bury my dad." Jesus says (direct quote here):" Let the dead bury their own dead."
When I first heard that story, I thought Jesus was being kind of harsh. I mean, the guy just wants to bury his dad. What's so wrong about that? But sacrifice- REAL sacrifice- is the name of the game here, guys.
It all comes down to:
How much are you willing to give up?
In the Bible, when we are called to give up our lives for Christ, it isn't always a metaphor. There are real sacrifices that have to be made, but they shouldn't matter to you in comparison to Christ.
America is a culture steeped in greed and possessions.
You are defined by what you own.
Your nice house. Your nice car. Your taste in furniture. Your taste in music. What you can afford to eat. Money. Money. Money. Things. Things. Things.
I recently saw the movie 'Up In The Air' (George Clooney, 2010). In it, Clooney plays a man who spends 95% of his life on board planes and away from his apartment. He works for a company that hires out workers to other companies to fire people. He gets paid to fire people for other companies.
He has his life down to a science. He takes only what he needs, and discards all the rest- ESPECIALLY anything that might 'burden' him with a personal connection.
In multiple scenes, we watch him pack his small, black, rolling suitcase with what can only be defined as skill. Everything has its place. Take only necessities.
In one of the scenes of the movie, he is giving a lecture to other people like him, trying to explain how to cope with this kind of life. He tells everyone to imagine a backpack?
Got it yet? Once you have it envisioned, we move on.
He says to put EVERYTHING you own in it. This backpack is like one of those bottomless backpacks that can hold everything in old Loony Tunes cartoons. The backpack just gets bigger and bigger, but it never breaks!
He tells them to put EVERYTHING in there. House. Couch. iPod. Photos. Desk. Phone. Coffee table you bought. Computer. All of it.
Then, he jokes with them, telling them to try to walk. It's impossible.
Now he continues in his metaphor to include people and relationships- put them inside the bag too. That's where he and I are going to diverge for now.
So, you, a Christian on planet Earth, have all these things in your backpack. Only your material possessions. Not your relationships, none of that. Just what you OWN. Think of how much stuff that is.
Try tucking in your cloaks and running with all that.
Let's reconnect with the movie:
At the end of the scene, he tells his audience they need to burn their backpacks. Get rid of everything holding you back.
For the Christian- particularly an American Christian, I think- this holds great applicability. I'm not talking about the 'burn-your-connections-to-people-part'.
I'm ONLY talking about the 'burn-your-connections-to-possessions'.
(Let me clarify quickly: DO NOT go light anything on fire, please.)
My family worries about money a lot, which is something I've never really worried about that much. It's just money, it's just stuff. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter.
How many of you/your parents freak out when there's a car accident? How many of you/your parents would freak out if someone broke into your house and stole EVERYTHING YOU OWN?
If I were standing at the front of a classroom right now, I imagine I'd see lots of hands up.
Let's take a pause for a second to connect some dots, since I know this is a long one:
1) I started talking about finding your 'place' in the world.
2) Suddenly, I switched to talking about possessions and greed and money.
So, you're looking for your place and trying to define yourself. You define yourself with what you own and your appearance.
How many of us, if our houses burned down, would just shrug and say: 'Stuff happens.'
Maybe that's what we all need to learn to do!
Our over-attachment to material things is lulling us into a sleep so deep we have begun to lose connection with the single most important thing in our world: God Himself. We are practically comatose.
When Jesus sends out The Twelve in Matthew 10:9-10, he says:
"Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or staff; for the worker is worth his keep."
Jesus said in the Beatitudes that we should not worry because our Heavenly Father WILL PROVIDE FOR US.
Maybe we need to learn to let go of EVERYTHING and stop trying to define our lives. After all, if we gave our lives to God, and God has a destiny for us, won't He guide us to our place?
Maybe I just need to see where life- and by life, I mean my predestined life, ergo God- takes me instead of worrying about what my career will be. Maybe, if we stick to our own plans, we are building our own walls to keep us from getting to our place, so to speak.
So the next time something happens- a car accident, the house has to be fixed, a new medicine has to be bought- STOP THINKING IN TERMS OF COST. It's a necessity, so there's no point in being upset about it. You can't control it. It's out of your hands. Why worry about it? God will provide, always.
People- my friends, my family, everyone- matter to me, yes. In fact, almost everyone in my life matters more to me than they actually know. But if my laptop suddenly shut down and went completely dead, it's no big deal. If my iPod was stolen, it's no big deal. If my dog, whom I absolutely adore and love, was hit by a car...as sad as that is, it's nothing to get in the way of the pursuit of God. We have to learn to be willing to lose everything in order to gain the only thing we need.
It's not bad to have possessions, and it's not bad to like things. But you also have to be able to detach from them. They can't stop your life from moving.
To quote Switchfoot, 'We were meant to live for so much more!'
Maybe I'm a hypocrite. Maybe tomorrow, our house will burn down and I will have lost everything and I'll cry about it for days- maybe weeks. It's always easier to preach about something that hasn't happened yet, haha.
The only way we can find our niche- find satisfaction- is by giving up everything. Not in just the physical sense, but by learning to detach from earthly things knowing that we have been given something FAR GREATER: eternal life in Christ when this world ends.
We know we're in the right place when we are freed from the need to control things, in my opinion. By giving up control and accepting that things will happen, we will gain satisfaction.
Not happiness necessarily, but satisfaction- knowing we are in the RIGHT PLACE.
So tuck in your cloaks people, and be prepared. We've got to be ready for when God calls on us.
I'll wrap it up with one of my favorite quotes:
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo. Stepping out your front door. You step out into the world, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you'll be swept off to."
Be ready. Who knows, tomorrow you might be called to hop on a plane to Madagascar.
