I know in the States right now it is pretty cold and dreary, but if you will, use your imagination to experience this tropical wonderland with me. Right now I am at a ranch miles away from the nearest town. It’s about 75 degrees and moisture in the air feels as if its trying to embrace me. I’m sitting in a hammock listening to the rushing river down the hill. As I rock back and forth, I feel a slight breeze slip past me on its way to more exciting destinations. I hear the rumblings of the sky echoing in the distance as the sky fades to light gray. As the sound of rushing water surrounds me, the roosters are under the impression that it is early morning and sound off accordingly. My eyes rise up from their resting place on this rectangle of artificial light and absorb the sight of lush greenery. The nearsighted view contains myriads of tropical trees growing strong and tall up this mountainside. As my eyes float past the lush palm leaves I notice some birds soaring above the very peak of the tropical mountaintop that I find myself on. They look so free and satisfied soaring on each gust of wind, probably taking in more aerial beauty than I will ever see.
I glance back at my screen. One word monopolizes my thoughts: beautiful. This nature is gorgeous. And rocking back and forth in this hammock, listening to the birds chirp and the rushing water below, I finally understand the meaning of the word peaceful. I do not need shallow and meaningless things to occupy my time or monopolize my thoughts. I would be content to lay in this hammock for hours just enjoying it all.
I realize that a thought dwelling at the back of my sub-conscious is knocking on the door. Curiosity wins over and I let it in. “How will I ever be able to go home after this?” I’ve experienced more God-made beauty in the past month than ever before in my life. It’s the kind of beauty that just takes your breath away. And now I’m gonna have to go back to the cut grass, white picket fences, and deliberately placed pine trees at home. Will I ever be able to be content with man-made beauty again?
It makes me ask the question,”Has the industrialization of America done us a disservice?” My architecturally perfect house back home can’t compare to this open-air, screened-in porch of a house in the middle of a tropical forest. My house that keeps out every living thing but a few ants is not nearly as perfect as this old house that has welcomed a few lizards already today. A man-made forest preserve at home can’t compare to a tropical jungle, and a swim in our mucky man-made lake could never compare to a refreshing dip in the chilly river flowing down from the mountain. I think we strive so much for perfection that we end up suffocating ourselves with the one thing we were trying to attain. We strive so much to be in a clean and controlled environment, that we have imprisoned ourselves in an artificial society. We have everything we could possibly want (realistically), and yet these people who have houses the size of some of our living rooms are more content than us. And because we have strived for such a controlled and sterile environment, we have deprived ourselves in one thing that money can’t buy: beauty.
The first few days of being in this country, when we were driving through the beautiful mountains, I marveled at how gorgeous the view was. Now we weren’t immersed in a rain forest or casting our eyes on the clear blue oceans. No, we were merely looking at some hills in the distance. That’s when a horrible thought hit me: this beauty has become normal to the people that live here. It is merely a part of their lives. This beauty that took my breath away is just average and every day to them. Think about it. Isn’t that a horrible thought?
Beauty has power, at least in my life. It has the power to take my breath away; the power to make me utterly in awe of God. It has the power to reveal to me just how small I am and how big God is. It has the power to open my eyes to the creativity of our Creator and to show me how feeble my artistic attempts are to the true Artist’s.
It is a dangerous spot to be in when beauty becomes normal to us. When beauty becomes normal to us, we get the sense that we are in control. When beauty becomes normal to us, that tells us that we are more focused on a to-do list than actually taking a look around and enjoying life. Various movies do a great job at portraying the concept of the boring, average American man or woman working in a cubicle all day and coming home to their cookie-cutter house in their cookie-cutter neighborhood. When I say that, you have a picture in your mind of what that means. And you know you’ve found yourself in that spot before. Maybe you didn’t work in a cubicle, but you know the feeling of going through the motions; of living a mediocre life.
Now, I know I’ve covered two points so far. I never really know what’s gonna come out when my fingers start clicking against the keyboard. But here’s my point: don’t let beauty become normal. Don’t let life become average. Don’t try to be in control, and don’t try to sterilize and perfect your life. You will end up suffocating yourself. That’s what happened to Mr. cubicle worker. His life was so sterilized that it became meaningless and void.
God promises us an ABUNDANT life. That means being out of control most of the time. It means doing crazy things when God asks….even with two weeks or two days notice. It means worrying less about the report card or job evaluation than you do about enjoying the little moments with your kids or your siblings.
God didn’t make us just to survive. He made us to thrive! He gave us the unique ability to be able to truly enjoy the little things in our lives. But that’s a choice we have to make.
I admit, I’m usually more focused on surviving than thriving. Especially as I’ve started the real big kid stuff like college. I hate to break it to you, but getting straight A’s is not thriving – it’s just surviving. We’ve all been there. You’re cooped up at your desk for hours and end up getting really great grades, but it’s pretty empty when you miss all the little things in life. You miss your mom baking cookies, you miss your brothers getting home from school, and you miss the rainbow that was in the sky – and all because you were working so hard on that paper.
Now I’m not condoning procrastinating. If you are putting your work off so that you can scroll through your Newfeed or troll videos on YouTube, that’s definitely not thriving either. But sometimes you have to chose to do it later.
I made a choice like this on Friday. I had a five page paper to write that I had barely gotten a sentence in to. When the kids got home from school it was my job to watch them until their mom got back from the store. My plan was to put on a movie for them and get crackin’ on that five page paper I needed to get done. Instead, I made the choice to thrive.
We ended up taking a walk in the 70 degree and sunny day. It was beautiful! We walked down to the soccer field. Ellie* and I found some beautiful pink and purple flowers that we enjoyed looking at. She asked me to grab her hands and swing her around and I did. We swung and twirled as she delighted in being a four-year-old little girl. Then we joined Joel* at the soccer field and assisted him in his goalkeeping endeavors. Every time I shot a goal, Ellie* ran to celebrate by being spun around. We raced across the soccer field over and over again until we were all red from exhaustion. When we returned home, I turned on some classic dance music and the kids choreographed to their every whim. As I sat there watching their adorable selves twirl and hop to the music, I was very happy of my decision to put the paper off till later. A five page paper will never make the same kinds of memories as dancing to Cotton Eye Joe will. I was thriving instead of surviving.
Sometimes the cheesy figures of speech that we have actually contain quite a bit of truth in them. The one I want to end with today is my challenge to you.
