Discouraged

Today, I am discouraged. Why do we do it? What will it help? How can we impact a society so wrapped up in comforting and entertaining itself that it doesn’t notice the impact it is having on the rest of the world. I once had a friend tell me, “But I don’t live in Thailand.” Wow. Are we really that sheltered? Yes. I think so. I think I’ve decided today to start a fund. I want to take our kids when they are 16, 14, 11 and 8 to a third world country. I want them to see what life is for the rest of us. What’s important, and what’s not. I’ve spent days just trying to find the perfect color to paint the kitchen walls or to find the dishes that would best accent the dining room table….what good homemaker hasn’t? Life looks much different now. Maybe not as polished, maybe not as proper. Maybe that’s part of my discouragement. I want to have a reason to quit so that I can go back to my old ways. It was more fun in ways. I’m so visual. I like my space to look like a magazine shoot. God doesn’t. He is constantly reminding me that these things are futile. “Bear one another’s burdens,” He says. Okay, Lord. So, we’ll be the example…the standard. The counter-cultural. He will use it. I’m sure He will. Besides, what’s the use of having a conviction if you don’t live it?