I’m sure you’ve heard that before, but right now it’s landing differently in a real, tangible, trajectory shifting short of way. Two weeks ago, I was confessing to a friend my sadness and fear about not being able to own a home one day. Owning a home: picking the paint color, organizing the fridge, pulling things out of storage once and for all. To be able to establish a place that is “mine” has become this milestone, or more accurately stated, this idol that I’ve been holding onto as ultimate. The key to my version of the good life.
Fast forward a week, less than a week actually, to two days later and I found myself powerless (literally without power) and displaced in the comfort of some dear friends’ home with 6 adults, 7 children, and 2 dogs in the middle of a snowstorm. At that moment, I was praising the Lord that amid the chaos, I didn’t also have to worry about pipes bursting, falling sheetrock, or frozen pools. Just two days later, I was praising the Lord for NOT having the very thing I have been longing for. In the changing circumstance and the different surroundings, the still small voice of the Lord kindly reminded me that perspective really is
E V E R Y T H I N G.
Where I can see that lesson playing out in my life and the lives of those around me, I’ve also been seeing it so clearly from the word of God. We’ve been studying the book of Ecclesiastes at church and if you haven’t read it or studied it before... now is the time. Ecclesiastes has been a long-time favorite because I see so many daily parallels to its author’s conclusion - life under the sun isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Day after day, one way or another, we are confronted with the reality that the things of this world never seem to live up to the hope of our expectations.
Our circumstances change. Our feelings are fickle. So perfectly evidenced by my confession and praise from one day to the next. Today I need this, but once tomorrow comes, I will want that. No matter what it is, the truth remains the same: the things of this world will always fall short. Even beautiful homes with insulated pipes or whatever it is that you try to elevate or put on a pedestal will not fulfill your dream as the key to the “good life.”
For those of us that follow Jesus, the good life isn’t found in whatever sits atop our pedestals. It isn’t found in a home that is mine. It’s not found in achievement, accolades, or any measure of success or money. The good life doesn’t exist in this world under the sun. No. The good life is good because our debt has been paid and our lives secured. The good life is good because this world and its temporary pleasure and pains aren’t all there is. In Christ, we’ve been afforded access to a perspective that exists beyond the sun.
Our perspective, where we fix our eyes, the lens through which we view and interpret the world, matters. It affects the way we respond to our circumstances, the way we feel about the life we’ve been given, it’s the difference between greed and generosity, envy and contentment, a heart of gratitude, and a heart of wanting.
Friends, where does your perspective lie? What are you chasing or holding onto as ultimate that you think will satisfy? May we lift our gaze from our current circumstance and shift our perspective beyond the sun.
For beyond the sun, the best is yet to come.