Preparing for my father’s “Celebration of Life” service gave me a lot of time to reflect on his long and active life. But one truth came to me after the work was done and the service concluded:
Grandpa was successful because he DID NOT SPREAD HIMSELF TOO THIN. He flew radio-controlled planes rather than earn a pilot’s license. Where I have owned horses, chickens, and as many as a dozen dogs at one time, your animal-loving grandfather was content with one cat. Where I have two acres to mow, he had a regular lot in the suburbs. His vacations were not extravagant—or when they were, they came only every second or third year. He put off buying new cars. He never bought a boat. He recognized that golf was “a rich man’s game.” He was content.
And that’s not to say he was not busy. The lifelong hobbyist was always building something or repairing something or involving himself in some huge Do-It-Yourself project. But he kept the costs down.
Grandpa knew:
Do not spread yourself too thin.
To put it another way:
EVERYTHING YOU OWN OWNS YOU.
All the THINGS, all the BUSY-NESS in your life is distracting. But how will you know Christ—the INVISIBLE GOD—if you are constantly dazzled by the visible and the noisy?
King David must have experienced distractions…. Yet, he knew how to clear his head and get alone with God.
“O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty. Nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul. Like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me” Psalm 131:1-2.
God, teach us to worship—and REST—with You, like a small child with his mother. May we be filled with gratitude, contentment, and peace.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 