Image by ~Prescott via Flickr

I was reminded tonight of how grateful I am for my life.   I love my home; my kids, my family, my work.  After everything I’ve been through, if all I have is I have my Bible and a coffee pot, I’m good to go.  Simplicity, according to Richard Foster, is “an inward reality that results in an outward lifestyle.”  I am not, and have never been a success-driven person.  Our parents raised us to value people over things, and I am so glad.  What motivates me is not money in the bank, or being able to buy whatever kind of car I want, or being able to retire early so I can travel and play golf.  (Okay, shop.  Trust me, you don’t want me swinging a club.)

What motivates me is people.  To go to the gates of hell, and get to all of the people the enemy thought he had won, and re-claim them for Heaven.  To be able to say “you may think you’ve played your best hand in this person’s life, but if they’re still breathing, the game’s not over.”  How do you retire from that?  If only one more can be reached, helped, and saved, that one is worth everything.  The enemy wants us to think- no, to believe- that it’s all over.  Wasted, ruined, spent, broken, and dead.  But I can promise you, that if there is the slightest spark of life left in you, God can blow the healing, life-giving breath of his Spirit into us, and resurrect us in such a way that we are unrecognizable, even to ourselves.  We become, literally, New People.  You can’t buy that at the mall.  There isn’t a gadget, outfit, or lifestyle the world can offer that can hold a candle to a changed life.  Give me people any day.  And with that,  Je suis content.

“Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have.  I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty.  In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”   Philippians 4:11-13