The Life She Dreams Of

It’s Thanksgiving Day, but strangely enough there is no nip in the air, no coats in the hall. There is no roasted turkey and no candlelit meal. There are no neighbors flying cornucopias of abundance on banners outside their front doors. In fact, none of them likely know that “Thanksgiving” is even a day. You see, I’m in Africa.

But midst seeing pictures from my dear friends and family who are enjoying celebrating together without me, my heart is not filled only with sadness at missing out on this holiday.

As I’ve been settling into our little concrete apartment, hanging curtains and unpacking totes, I’ve been thinking about how an ungrateful heart steals the life from me that I really wanted to live. My dream life is always out of reach when my arms are already filled with the cumbersome clutter of ingratitude.

So, irregardless of the fact that it is Thanksgiving Day (in fact, I quite forgot about it when the thoughts on gratitude originated yesterday), I am focusing my heart on thankful wonderings. 

I’m thinking...that no matter what things I am facing and no matter where I am, there is doubtless someone somewhere out there who is dreaming of living the life that I actually live.

Don’t you think? Now, I recognize that you may be thinking, “Okay, so you’re just trying to say the timeless ‘be thankful for your dinner because someone is hungry in Africa’ in different words.” I could be. But irregardless of that, why not stop to do a little imagining with me. 

Someone tonight is dreaming of having a marriage that works and a husband who loves her. 

Someone else is dreaming of having enough food to eat, while sitting in an empty room with an empty cupboard and an empty wallet. 

“She” dreams of having a child to love, just one, matter not if the child is sick or obnoxious. She dreams of having a warm place to sleep just like mine, while huddled under a piece of cardboard, a wet refugee tent, or a bridge. 

She dreams of having a family who supports and cares about her, in the midst of humdrum, crisis, shame or success. She dreams of working a job she enjoys, satisfied as she helps other people live better lives.

She dreams of knowing teamwork in marriage, experiencing the joy of pulsating together with the Spirit of God for a life worth living and dying for. 

She dreams of going to the grocery store and buying eggs, milk, cheese, and bread, and still having money left over for bananas. 

She dreams of having enough leisure time to read a book, or to sit and think without some sadist yelling at her to never stop working. 

She dreams of having just one beautiful, elegant dress to wear for special occasions. 

She dreams of knowing a God who will speak to her and hear her prayers. She dreams of being able to have a family to have devotions with each day. 

She dreams of living in another season which is not filled with so much pain, so much weeping, so much trauma or grief. 

She dreams of the ability to walk, simply stand up and walk, go to the sink and get a drink, go to the bathroom by themselves, go scoop that cute child up and twirl them around the room.

She dreams of the luxury of being able to read and write, a world she can only imagine, as she carries water or stirs pots of steaming food for people whose belief systems have kept her from entering that world of words.

The “she” in those sentences represents the dreams of millions of women just like me living on this same planet.

Most of us are living proof that the life we live does not come without lots of challenges. Yet, how wrong it would be to live the life so many are dreaming of, without cherishing this blessed chance. 

How tragic it would be if I would not spend this life of mine content and delighted, for I am blessed beyond conceivability. And even with its hardships, disappointments and struggles, this is the life I have dreamed of too.

Look around you. Do you see the life of someone’s dreams? Do you have enough food to eat? A place to call “home”? People to love? The ability to sleep at night? A 2018 without any personal tragedies or traumas? The chance to read? The ability to talk to and learn about Jesus Christ? 

Perhaps you do not right now have every last thing on that list, but stop to think of it: if your reality includes even one of them you are living out a life someone else is longing for.

Happy Thanksgiving Day, and may you truly bless the Lord with all that is within your soul today.

Which Risk?

I self-diagnose that I haven’t come down with the “lotto fever” like millions of other Americans, seeing I haven’t bought into its folly with even one hard-earned dollar; however, I still managed to hear about the Mega Millions Jackpot going on in the last month. Like many other people within the perimeters of this country and beyond, I am curious to know what will become of the [un?]-lucky individual from South Carolina who is said to have won the $1,540,000,000 prize a couple weeks ago.

Personally, I am not willing to risk winning millions in exchange for scores or hundreds of my husband’s dollar bills (not to put down those who do play the lottery, but I just don't think it's wise). I have heard and read History’s tale revealing that money gotten in such ways has a truly unearthly propensity of vanishing before the unlucky winner’s eyes, along with relationships and dignity. However, don’t be deceived. I am definitely into big rewards and am not deterred by the fact that the Rewards are generally holding hands with Risk.

I’ve been reliably informed that there are riches to be had in a distant country. They are available to any and all who are willing to attain them. There are equal chances for every soul with a place in the human race. These riches do not have any negative side-effects. They are resistant to every sort of calamity, being simultaneously fireproof, waterproof, and thief-proof. Worms and moths are not able to get a tooth into these treasures; neither can tornados, earthquakes, tsunamis, or other disasters destroy them. Moreover, once they are yours, reliable hands will stash them into a safe place out of reach of greedy thieves. Neither do jealous people have a chance to sneak off with any of your sparkling, dazzling treasures. These treasures are beyond imagination, quite frankly, and beyond compare with the kind of treasures you can find at our country’s sparkling malls and department stores. Incredibly, these treasures will be yours to keep after you’ve gone to the grave. The millions won by the South Carolinian recently will all disappear and be lost to them eventually. However, I’ve been reading about a way to get rich and keep it all forever and ever!

Photo by Ramiro Mendes on Unsplash

If you and I are smart, upon hearing news such as this we will be curious enough to ask, “What do I need to do to put some of this treasure to my name? Stand in a line? Pay some cash? Put my name in a draw? What’s the cost, and what’s the risk?” There is a way to get these treasures, but slow down, good American heart. Your ability to wait is essential in this quest.

Jesus tells us…

“Collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.” Matthew 6:20, HCSB

So, the safest place for treasures is clearly in Heaven, and there are actually people with treasures collected in that country.

How do you put treasures Heaven? One way is to give what you have here to the poor. Check it out in not just one but these three places: Matthew 19:21, Mark 10:21, Luke 18:22

“Sell what you possess and give donations to the poor; provide yourselves with purses and handbags that do not grow old, an unfailing and inexhaustible treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” Luke 12:33 Amplified

In case you’re wondering, we are actually encouraged implored to secure money bags for ourselves that will not wear out, filled with inexhaustible riches, kept in the safest place you could dare to hope for.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

There was a man who was digging in a field and found treasure that would exceed all he could earn in several life times. Quietly, he finished his field work, surreptitiously went home, and decided to sell everything he had in order to buy that field. I think there was a bit of time in-between when he decided to do that and actually finished selling everything when he could’ve changed his mind. He could have looked at all his precious household things gathered around him, and become overwhelmed with sadness at his loss. He could have worried that his plan wouldn’t work. Or, perhaps he could’ve “slept over it” for a night and in the dawn of morning sunshine decided that he actually had all he wanted and needed and didn’t want to sell all that he could see around him for something he couldn’t see buried in a field.

However, he flicked all those silly notions from the periphery of his wise mind, as he sold every last thing he owned in order to have enough money to be able to buy that plot of dirt. And the treasure became his.

From time to time I have “seen” heavenly treasure with my eyes of faith, and years ago already I decided to sell all I have to gain so much more. Jesus promises that what we lose for His sake, He will repay one with one hundred, if I get my math right! (See if I’m correct: Mark 10:29-31) That is tremendous. Every so often, God enables my eyes of faith to see more clearly than normal, and every sacrifice I make for Him truly feels paltry and insignificant in light of my promised future. Sometimes, He gives me tiny tastes of the future, as He rewards me here on earth in ways tangible to my dim earthly eyes.

And then there’s that space of time where I haven’t seen the eternal rewards yet, and I’m still in the process of selling all I have, and what I see here and now feels pretty real and desirable. To the physical eyes, there is an immense risk in selling all for an eternal treasure you cannot see.

Here’s what I think: what you’re willing to risk for depends on what and who you believe and what perspective you have.

The other day one of my sisters told me an anecdote from a recent Bible School experience. Sarah Grace was standing at a coffee bar, preparing herself a cup of tea. As she used a miniature ladle to scoop some thick, sweet cream into her tea, a young man getting himself some coffee piped up beside her. “That cream just makes it so good, doesn’t it?” “Sure does,” Sarah Grace replied cheerily.

Photo by Trent Erwin on Unsplash

Then the fellow realized the drink she was dipping cream into was not coffee, but tea. “Oh, no,” he said. “Don’t ruin your tea!” “I’m not ruining it, I love cream in tea!” Sarah Grace rejoined good-naturedly. “No!” The fellow repeated. “I wouldn’t try it. One time, someone told me that honey in coffee is the best. I tried it; what a mistake. Ruined a perfectly good cup of coffee.” Giving his hot drink a stir, he walked off, leaving Sarah Grace with some interesting thoughts. “He didn’t want to take the risk of ruining a cup of tea by trying cream in it; whereas I think he is actually risking never discovering the luxury of cream in tea! It’s funny how what you’re willing to risk depends on which perspective you’re looking at it from.”

I think it’s like that with heavenly treasure. Which risk will we take? Will we risk losing our earthly treasures, our safety, our comfort and security and perhaps even our lives? Or will we risk losing eternal treasure we could’ve had that will never fade, get lost, stolen, or lose its shine?

When I’m thinking straight, it’s clear to see which risk is the more risky risk.

I might never have much money.

I might never have a “permanent” home.

I might spend a lot of time looking (or in the least feeling) like a misfit.

I might never be “in style”.

I might not have some fun things I would really like.

I might invest everything by faith in heavenly “stocks” I cannot see yet.

I might be a loser...in this world.

And I might gain ever so much more than this world has to offer.

In fact, may I take the “might” out of that sentence? Because I have chosen to trust the validity of the One who has earned my heart and my faith throughout His Word and the experiences of my life thus far. I SHALL gain ever so much more than this world has to offer.

What are you willing to risk for? Who are you willing to risk for? Don’t be duped into believing that you are smart enough not to take any crazy risks. You ARE risking something at every choice you make. If you choose to open your heart to love, for example, you take a risk at rejection, loss, and misunderstanding to name a few. However, trying to bypass those risks by shutting your heart to love is to risk loneliness, emptiness, and meaninglessness. You risk by buying into the ideology of the American dream. You risk by letting it all go for something Eternal.

In these days of transition while preparing to move to Ghana for three months, I have been pondering my choices in life and evaluating the things I’m risking for. Jesus said that those who lose their lives for Him will gain them again forever. And in the winding paths of my brain, the question is turning from, “Is it worth the risk?” to “Can it even be called a risk to give my all for a promised heavenly reward worth more than all I have to give?”

Risk makes perfect sense when you believe the character of the person who’s guaranteeing you the gain your risk will bring.