I have a niece who is just 6 weeks younger than my oldest. With quite opposite temperaments, these 2 1/2 year olds have maintained an adorable love/hate relationship since infancy that has resulted in both mutual fondness and scorn almost every play date. The scorn can be so powerful between them that, in a recent play date, it took my sister-in-law Mikki and me a full hour of playing “referee” between the kids before they cracked a smile at each other. It was exhausting. They slap each other silly over a toy and once one child moves on to something different, the other has to have it or throws a fit over it being “MINE!” Typical, I know. What struck me was that, when the Hour of Terrible Tantrums had ceased, the two held hands, played chase, and giggled like crazy running all around the house; when the time came for them to part, they gave each other kisses and hugs complete with pats on the back.
Mikki and I marveled over the unexplained transformation. Mutual hatred for 60 minutes with 30 minutes of pleasant play – what had happened? It wasn’t until a couple of days later that I realized that the laughter and chasing came when no possessions were involved. Our kids weren’t focused on toys, they were focused on each other; and because of this they where rid of the Grabs & Gimmes and able to have fun and a little adventure together.
Kids are concentrated human beings – everything they are and have comes at an intense and overwhelming level. Their sorrows and frustrations come out in shrieks and screams while their joys are released in giddy excitement bubbling over past containment. When they want something they want it now and many are full of a sense of thrill and adventure. With such high doses of life within their miniature bodies, children seem to genuinely live little John 10:10 lives – abundant and full. The intensity of childlike experience seems to balance out with age and reason, but some things never change. As a person who admittedly gets preoccupied about STUFF, I know that my life is fuller and more content when I focus on living rather than having. When I dabble in overly enthusiastic retailing, there is little to no calm within myself because my focus has shifted from the Prince of Peace to possessions. I’m not suggesting owning nothing or even that delighting in one’s things is inherently bad, but pleasure should derive from knowing that I’m blessed by God to have what I do; that my life and all within it is permitted and given by God.
Overall, the point is that my self-investment should primarily lie in living and experiencing life. And truly, what life is there outside of Christ? I know of so many people who are jonesing for the next and newest toy or who spend so much time with said toy that they miss what’s going on around them. At the end of my rope, I know that I can’t take it with me, neither do I want to be remembered for all the stuff I had, but rather the life I lived in Christ.
yes, couldn’t have said it better…so true this is!!