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Monday, May 21, 2007

Putting God First and then Rambling Away...

So I met with the real estate agent today and came away feeling good again about the house we have been looking at. I was praying about it on the way home when it hit me that I was forgetting one "expense" - tithing. Which pretty much takes us out of the picture for the place. I have to be honest, the thought came to my mind that I could decrease our tithe to less. Or I could find some other source of income and make that the tithe. Then I got smacked with the "that isn't the point" and knew that the tithe has to come first before anything else. The danger is that my thought was to pay the mortgage first and the tithe second and that just isn't going to fly. More than anything else the tithe is symbolic and a discipline of the strongest type: against money. Father, what is it about money and "stuff" that makes it so tough to resist? Why is it that we are trained to think that buying a house will make us happy and successful? Or more than that, what makes us think that a mate will make us happy? That our life isn't complete without one? Not to complain, being married to Alise has been amazing so far and I know that it will continue to be such. But I was watching a movie the other day and the message was that the lead character's life just wasn't complete until she met someone. The ending wasn't happy until she found love. I think it ruined the movie. She made all of these fantastic connections and friends and created bonds of brotherly love with them and she was happy. That would have made a great end of the movie. Father, isn't that what love is all about? Those bonds of brotherly love, that is how you show us you love us, that love that we hold for each other is your arms wrapped around each one of us individually. Not popularity or idolatry; they are man's attempt to find the "easy way" to that feeling of love, but it is false. All I know is that I feel closest to you when I know I am loved by my friends and family; and I in turn love them back. I often think that what you are giving me now is an opportunity to work on that all over again. Find more friends and show them that love and get that love from them. Father, I know that you will give me the opportunities to do so, give me the strength to do so.

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