More you, less me

Wow. What a selfish, ungrateful person I am. Seriously, HUGE wake up call to me this morning - I'm living too much for the creature comforts and "requirements" of society. It's easy, especially in Orange County, to walk around influenced by the wealth and "worldly things" rather than forcus in on the hearts and pain of others. We're in a constant competition of who's got more, who's prettier, who's more successful and we fail to see the devastation going on all around us. We live in a world of facade's where to the outside world we're 'fine" while inside we're dying inside for love, for compassion, for kindess, for faithfulness, for gentleness. Sounds like we need to go running back to the core principles of the Spirit looking not only to our own interests but also the interests of others.

And I'm frustrated with myself. How do I keep letting another day go by without seeking to serve other's in some facet? Why is it so much easier for me to sleep longer or go run and hide, instead of face the world around me? Why am I so afraid of stepping out and taking a risk of friendship or sharing Christ?

Society.

In our society we don't rock the boat. We don't ask questions. We simply are. We wake up, go to work, pay the bills, eat, sit in front of the TV, and call it a day. And at random pivotal points in our life we realize that what we're doing is worthless... but slowly, the world sneaks in again and we're right back where we started. I long for the passion and diligence to find a cause and fight for it until completion.

Passion.

So I'm started formulating and actually brainstorming more about what it is that I'm called to do. What is it that God is calling me to, instead of my own human desires? I can certainly say that God is calling me to something more than the next best outfit, the biggest house, or even the never ending pressure to find a spouse. Yes, God is calling me to make my desires fit into His Will, in essence, making my desires His desires. But how do you even start a journey like that?

Lots of prayer.
Lots of time in the Word.
Lots of insight from other's.
And lots, and lots, or quiet abandon to the One and Only.

And I look back on my life and the fact that I've allowed 24 years to go by with unattained goals, unfinished dreams, unmet passions. I've heard the call of the Lord for a decade now, and yet I sit back with the mentality "there's always tomorrow". But friends, what if there is no tomorrow? We're not guaranteed another day... we're given right now. So what can I do, right now, to be more in step with His plans?

It's in the simple "good morning" and smile to someone at the coffee shop.

It's the phone call just to check in.

It's not avoiding the hurts and pains of the past, but facing them and allowing healing to fall in.

God's will is in the faces of those around us. God's will to seek and save the lost is staring us in the face each morning. God's will to love and care for those lost has been given to those who've been found.

So maybe it's just adding a little more time in prayer each day. Maybe it's us spending more time in the world. But maybe, just maybe, what God really wants us to do is to walk out the front door of our comfort zone and into the reality of the world around us. Maybe what He wants is for us to ask for His eyes to see the hurt and pain of the broken. More You, less me...

For we're called to go out into all nations proclaiming the grace and freedom only Christ gives.

So why not start in our own back yard?