Some friends wanted a house in an up-and-coming neighborhood in our city. It had amazing schools, great shopping areas, and was super protected.
So they searched and worked, and so they finally got a spot there. But once they got there, they began to appreciate some downsides. Everyone desired to live there.
So traffic was a nightmare. The cost of living had surged. It was super expensive.
The shopping areas were so good that they were consistently crowded. So, as they were talking concerning the challenges of living there, it form of jogged my memory of my life. How again and again I’ve gotten what I wanted, nevertheless it wasn’t all I believed it could be.
I’m guessing you may relate. Many of us reside the life we dreamed of getting years ago, but now that we now have it, it’s far more stressful than we thought it could be.
I hear from a number of individuals who achieved their major life goals that took them years. But after they finally got the thing they wanted, the home, the job, or the automotive, it wasn’t anything like they thought it could be. But they spent years with that thing as their primary goal, and now they feel a bit empty.
Sometimes, people even tell me I do not know if I need this anymore. Thomas Merton once said that individuals may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to search out once they reach the highest that the ladder is leaning against the flawed wall. King Solomon makes that exact point in Ecclesiastes 2 10 through 11 when he says; I denied myself nothing my eyes desired.
I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart was delighted by all my labor, which was the reward for all my toil. Yet all the pieces was meaningless once I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to realize.
A chasing after the wind. Nothing was gained under the sun. There is nothing flawed with having nice things.
There’s nothing flawed with working hard to enhance your life and pursue goals. But King Solomon says we now have to maintain all those things in perspective. When it comes right down to it, life here under the sun is not all there may be.
There are everlasting issues, and there are heavenly issues at play here which might be what’s most vital. And if we spend our entire lives going in spite of everything the physical things we wish but don’t concentrate to the upper things, to God’s priorities, we may get all the pieces we wanted, but we’ll still find we feel empty. Jesus even said in Mark 4 that if we aren’t careful, the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things can enter and choke the word, which proves unfruitful.
Part 1: Wisdom for When You Want to Check Out
Part 2: Finding Contentment in a World Full of Achievement
Part 3: Is Getting What You Want Leaving You Empty?
Photo Credit: SWN Design
