When I visit my mom’s house, I can get away from everything for a while. It’s a suburban community, but a little outside of the city lights, so on clear nights, the stars just shine. Its crazy, because for some reason on nights like that you can almost see the curve of the earth, and when the moon gets really big, its frightening. But I love it. It. It makes me feel so tiny. Like I’m just an infinitesimal little blip in the universe, because I guess that’s what we all really are. We just forget. Our problems start to build, and pretty soon they seem a lot bigger than this world we’re in. We don’t take the time to stop, and look up at the sky, and realize just how small we all really are. I like to look up there when I get stressed. I’m one of those people that makes themselves feel like there’s way more going on in their life than there actually is. So when I have a couple assignments to do, plus errands to run, and bills to pay, I absolutely freak out. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. I talk to lots of people in the Starbucks drive-through that are just like me. You might just be one of those people. Always in a hurry, have to get your coffee within a 2-minute window or you’ll freak out because you woke up late and have to get to work because if you miss your meeting the world will end. You know what I’m talking about. We like to think that we’re selfless, but for the most part, we’re really not. When you have a problem does it feel like the world is crashing down? Ever feel like the world is one your shoulders. That’s because (if you’re anything like me) in our little world— it is. But the thing is, we actually don’t live in our little worlds. We may think we do, but look up. You are under the same sky as me. And we are under the same sky as the millionaires with the fancy cars and houses, and as the people living in third world countries, and as the families in Haiti or Japan that have lost loved ones because their world has literally shaken. This is our world.
I think it’s interesting in the book of Job, when Job questions God because of his problems, God spends the rest of the book reminding him of the great big creation He’s made. I suppose when Job looked at it from that perspective, things seemed all together different. I think if Job and I went stargazing at my mom’s house, we would probably have a lot to say to each other. We’re all just a bunch of Jobs. We think we have these tremendous issues; that the universe is crashing down, and we all have all these justifications for why our lives just suck. But the reality is, the universe isn’t crashing down. Our lives, our problems, our houses and cars that we work so hard for just so we can have shiny knobs to turn on road trips and smoother pieces of wood to walk on when we wake up in the morning… its all one little infinitesimal blip. Lots of Bible writers like to call it a vapor. Its there, and then its gone, and even when its there its so small you can barely even see it.
So on one hand, I can breath easy. I can thank God for the great big sky and all the constant reminders that my problems are nothing in the real world that I live in, and I can just chill out. But that raises another problem for me. If that’s it, then what the heck am I here for anyway? I’m just one of the 6 billion something people on this planet for this short amount of time, and then everything that is everything to me passes away. Then there’s new people— new dreams, new jobs, new homes and cars and retirement plans… And all I worked for so hard…its gone. But there is some thing that lasts. Its all-out, self-sacrificial love. Take a life of somebody who was dedicated to their job, who worked hard and got a bunch of stuff, and hold it up to a life of somebody who cared more about the people around them than they did about themselves. The lover takes the cake (please remember that phrase, and quote it regularly)! If there’s anything I can take from my years as a history major, its that there have been a BUNCH of people who lived before us. I know it sounds simple, but do we ever stop and think about it? Think about how many people before us have freaked out because of a homework assignment, or for a job, or because they got money stolen from them, or because they got a really cool new car (or horse…), and guess what? NO ONE CARES! It was all for nothing. Vanity, as Ecclesiastes would say it. But the force that moves through those who sacrifice themselves for the good of those around them, that sticks. That what moves us. Because there is a truth woven into the fabric of creation, and at the core of every human soul, and it is self-sacrificial love. And it changes our lives on an individual level, and as communities, and nations, and even the whole world. It’s the universal key to our hearts! As a follower of Jesus, this is what I think of as the Kingdom of Heaven, and when I live for that, I fully believe I’m so much more fulfilled than I could ever be with any amount of stuff.
So when you’re freaking out because of some assignment, or some amount of money, or because somebody did you wrong, just ask why. And when you’re giving every bit of energy to some thing, again, ask why. Is it so you can get a bunch of stuff? Is that what your life is about? Then welcome to the club of billions of others who have lived for stuff, and get ready to join the club who’s tireless work for stuff amounted to a big bunch of nothing. But hey, you have a nice, smooth surface to walk on when you go home, and your car has really cool knobs to turn when you listen to music. Congratulations. Or maybe its so you can take care of your families, and in that case, awesome. I would say that falls into the self-sacrificing love category. But is it so you can take care of them, or be able to give them a big bunch of meaningless stuff, so they can and get the opportunity to earn a bunch of stuff, and…well, I think you get the picture. Is it for love, or stuff? You would think that if there was any meaning in life, we would all have the capacity to fulfill it. It wouldn’t depend on one being born in the right place and time so they have the right opportunities to get a bunch of stuff. When we live our lives to love, we can be fulfilled now, and we can succeed immediately. We all have the capacity to do it. You don’t have to get somewhere to be happy. There is no making it. You’re already there. If you’re a doctor, you’re there. If you’re a Drive-through worker at Wendy’s, you’re there, if you’re in America, or Japan, or Palestine, you’re in the right place. Joy and fulfillment is ours for the taking. And when love is the goal, when the Kingdom of Heaven is our drive, there isn’t any reason to freak out about all the stuff that happens to us. Its like we live in harmony with this great big world we’re in. In all this craziness, stuff starts to make sense. Our little worlds just disappear. If you don’t believe me, come with me over to my mom’s house. I think its written somewhere in the stars.
