More and more I think about creating a life you love. So many around me hate their daily lives. They dream of their vacation days in a way that makes their daily lives sound like misery. They need to escape and when they come home, they are more discontent and miserable than before they left. They dislike their jobs, their bodies, their neighbors, their homes. So much discontentment. What if we worked to create a life we are satisfied and content with?
As much as I love to travel, I'm finding more and more joy and peace in my home. I love my husband and my children and grand babies. I love my puppies and my chickens! Nothing like running out to the coop to get a few fresh eggs for breakfast. I love my little herb garden and my veggies. I love the sound of the wind chimes hanging out back, and the feel of the breeze on the hill coming through my bedroom windows. I love waking to the sound of the birds, and watching the mama deer and her twins out the window. Sitting in front of the warm fireplace with a cup of coffee and my Bible or greeting my hubby at the door after a long day. I love when the house is filled with fellowship and laughter and the smell of coffee and fresh bakery. Perfect? Never. I groan about the mud that I sweep up, the leaves that the dogs bring in on their fur, the long winters and short summers, the mosquitos. But you know what? I wouldn't trade it for anything. Count it all joy! Life is beautiful and messy and joyful and sad and there are days that we are just waiting to lay our heads down on that pillow and see that joy that does come in the morning. A new day, a fresh outlook.
But seriously, how can you create a life you don't need to "get away" from? It's not all about the material things. I admit, I find joy and a certain sense of purpose in creating a space that is warm and welcoming. I love trying to be a Godly, Proverbs 31 woman. I love beautiful things just as much as the next person. I love to decorate and oddly enough, organize! I add things around my rooms that have memories associated with them. Something from a special day, a special person or a special trip. I try to create a space that my hubby loves to come home to at night. That my kids are comfortable being in, and like to spend time here. One that we can invite people in and share a bit of warmth and love and Jesus with them. But that isn't where my fulfillment and joy comes from. My contentment is not in the next room I redecorate or the new shoes I buy. It is in the One who dwells in us, who is invited into our home and who is Lord over our home. He is the one that brings that peace, love, joy, contentment.
Are you content? It is said we all have a God~shaped hole in our hearts that only He can fill. Through Him, and his strength we are made whole and that is the only way true contentment can begin. We can weary ourselves in creating the home of our dreams, but until our hearts are set on Him, it is all in vain. We will strive and never get the satisfaction we are looking for.
Our hearts will always deceive us, but the Word of God will always point us in the right direction. Focus on Him and doing His will for our lives. Find your joy in Him.
Where our treasure is our heart is also. Does this mean we can't have nice things? No, it certainly doesn't. But at the end of life is it that new car that mattered most? What did you do for Him? How did you live for Him? How did you share His love with a hurting world? Did you share that beautiful home that you have created?
Go and plant your garden and your flowers and your herb garden, but don't forget to cultivate that heart of gratitude. When we show gratitude, we are automatically thankful to the One who provides so lavishly for us. Remember what your greatest treasures as followers of Jesus Christ are to be. Focus on those things that are eternal, for this is where our true contentment will come. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
- When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride. - Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood. - See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown? - Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
In His Love ~ Kim
"With Jesus in Her Heart, and Coffee in Her Cup"
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