The American Dream

I was taught from a very young age to;  do well in school,  get good grades so you can get into the best college (with scholarships), or to try hard at various sports or music to get into the best college (with scholarships),  so I can graduate from college, get a high paying job, buy a home, then buy a larger home with room for the growing family and all our stuff, then buy more / better stuff, make more money, get more stuff...  You get the picture.

Our family was living this lifestyle.  Always trying to upgrade our things;  car, furniture, landscaping, etc.  We found that we were spending 60 hours a week in an office, 30 hours a week maintaining;  cleaning the pool and house, mowing, weeding, trimming, fixing up, re-arranging, decorating, entertaining, blah, blah, blah....

Is this the life that God intended for us?  There are only 168 hours in a week.  Were we really supposed to be spending over half our week working to maintain this lifestyle?  The "quality time" we spent with our kids was usually while we worked in the yard or did other chores together.  And whatever we had left, that tiny bit of energy at the end of the week, we would give to God on Sunday morning.  woo-hoo.  How could we possibly sing those hymns on Sunday morning, "Here am I, all for Thee, take my life, it's all for Thee".  We were giving the Lord our leftovers...He is worthy of all our first and best!

As the Lord is shaping and focusing our ministry, our daily prayer is that we continue to offer Him our first and best of all that we have.

Jeremiah 9:24 "But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD which exercise loving-kindngess, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight", says the LORD.