...or how Barbie got it wrong.
Did anyone else ever notice that Barbie never drives a junker car, or wears blue jeans with holes in them? Or works at McDonalds?
Paul and I were talking last night about the great need for Americans to "arrive" at something. Whatever our idea of the good life is, we feel that enough persistance and hard work will get us to that place, at which time, we will feel content and whole.
And persistence and hard work will get you a lot of places. You want to build your own house? Work at it. Want to be a doctor? Hard work. But hard work never gets us to contentment. And we've trained our kids this way! Barbie starts in a state of arrival, video games level up to some point of completion. T
his idea is ingrained in the fabric of being American. But it just doesn't measure up to that Higher Reality. I feel discontent because my house isn't done, my career isn't at it's final happy point. I haven't learned to make bread, or sauder jewelry wires. I obviously am missing something. (Yes, my version of the American dream is a little...hippie-fied? I want financial security, but I want to create, and have babies, and love my dogs....oh, and world peace. Yes.)
And my very clever husband pulled a very overused, but true, cliche on me last night. The journey is the destination. Because what I really want is shalom. That utter state of contentment when your whole world is put right...only to be found in Christ. And while we get glimpses of that now, we will only fully know that on the other side of glory. I do have a destination to arrive at....I just can't get to it from here.
So I might as well enjoy my journey, and stop seeking "arrival." I think God is present in our journeys, in our learning and growing. And if He is in it, it is good. Regardless of the state of completion.
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