40 Days of Love - Day Two

Navel Gazing and Other Useless Activities

IF we want our lives to change it will take more than introspection. It was called "navel gazing" when I was in college. Just pondering your life and what could be better. It was to "get in touch with yourself." There is absolutely nothing wrong with "getting in touch with yourself" except that without the corresponding behavior change nothing really changes. Here we have been challenged to let Jesus give us a new set of priorities and then we must act on them. It is not good enough to just ponder or think on them. We must put them into action.

Today the reading makes us aware of "The Attraction of Lesser Things." Those things that distract us and divert our attention away from the priorities Jesus set for us. The author gave two important warnings about "lesser things":
        1. The "lesser values almost always overwhelms the greater" (p.33)
        2. "the striking thing about the lesser values is that the more of them you achieve, the more you realize how little power they have to bring fulfillment." (p.34)

That is the problem with "navel gazing" it never gets us to where we want to be. All the desire in the world cannot bring fulfillment apart from being put into practice. Things and lesser values simply cannot satisfy or fulfill our lives. We were created for more. Lesser values keep our focus on temporal things that in the long run don't matter much. That is why Jesus tells us that there is more to life than "stuff" and He wants us to trust Him with our every need. Read again what He said:

²⁵ "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Matthew 6:25 (NIV)

Today I will act on the priorities Jesus has set and seek to keep lesser thing lesser and greater things greater.

Lord keep me focused on you and your priorities today. Help me to seek after greater values and not be tripped up by seeking the lesser. Amen