Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Human Life is Finite

"There can be 999 trees in our garden to which we can freely go an enjoy their fruit, but where do we pitch our tent? Under the one tree we cannot have. We begin to obsess over this thing that we do not have, and we let the rest of the garden go to weeds. How can we get the one thing that is missing? It's right there. So judging the garden that God gave us and called "good" to to be not good enough, we reach for more than we were created to have."

"From the beginning we were created to be receivers, not achievers. Nothing is more countercultural to contemporary Americans."

"Freedom is found not in escaping limits, but of discovering the goodness of life within them. Our culture tells us just the opposite. It claims that we won't be free until we buy the more expensive car or house, make the next move, or get the next promotion. But none of those achievements are capable of making us free. Typically, they only enslave us."

- M. Craig Barnes in The Pastor as Minor Poet

2 comments:

travelmom said...

This is really excellent - "From the beginning we were created to be receivers, not achievers."
What a great reminder. We are so prone to think that if we just had that one (fill in the blank) we would be content and our problems would be fewer. Thankfully, God in His very great mercy, doesn't give us what we want all the time. I shudder to think what would become of us if He did. (Think Henne family-balloon boy hoax-here) They wanted their 5 min. of fame and they got it.

Thanks for blessing us with your wisdom words.
Lori

Nicole said...

This post and the last--very good. Thanks for sharing. . .I may have to steal them and post them too. Hope you all are well!