LIFE IN THE NARROWS

At the time of writing this, Christmas is only a couple of days away. My family is busy preparing for a new experience of celebrating in a new house and a family that we didn't have last year.

Somewhere in all of that is the gift exchanges. That means more to some than others. And I don't know too many people that don't enjoy getting presents regardless of the saying that it is better to give than received. (You have to wonder how much we really do take that saying to heart at times. But that is for a different posting I suppose.)

My son the other day was lamenting how he always had trouble figuring out what to get me for Christmas. I've always felt it was rather a mute subject in some ways since there have been some years he didn't even do anything for one reason or another.

But as I sat there it did occur to me that in all honesty, there isn't that much I care about in terms of possession. I don't say that to impress or say it is a good thing, just a fact of life in my case.

The more I reflected on it the more I realized just how simple of a life I really live. It basically comes down to the things I do because I knew the Lord wants me to and the things I do for the sake of survival. Hardly what one would call being the life of the party.

Yet, I don't feel that living a life in the narrow is one filled with unhappiness. I'm not depressed by the simplicity, just not filled with the need to enlarge my life with a lot of added distractions.

While I'm not suggesting this is a way of life everyone should live, I do find it interesting how by staying in the narrows, which I feel is God's will for my life at this time, there are just so many things I don't end up worrying about. In fact the things that do cause stress more often are related to those I have in my charge as a father, husband and grandfather.

I appreciate how some would regard such existence as boring or void of the experience that all crave in dreams. However, it seems with so many that I talk to the pursuits they do have as a form of pleasure all end up being flawed to some degree.

I think there are times when God wants to keep our lives in the narrows. It helps to keep in focus what really counts.

And central to that will always be the Lord. The more calm and free of distraction a life becomes that is trusting in God, the more one will end up seeing the Lord in all things.

How often people attempt to inspire that view while clinging to all their toys and games. They want balance without truly being willing to set aside what is a burden, but they see as a form of pleasure. Once and a while though, the heart and soul will be touch by the simple and sublime rather than the frenzy of appeasing some fleeting desire or passion.