The picture attached to this post is a picture of my dashboard. Let me start by saying, when I bought my car several years ago, I did some serious car shopping. I wanted a car with every possible option because I was planning on driving this car for many years. I thought my car had everything on it that was possible until I saw this place where obviously another option was available. Once I noticed this, I became obsessed about what might have been there, but wasn’t.
Instead of looking at all the features my car had, I was consumed thinking about what was missing. I had been cheated; I was missing out. After looking in the manual and realizing the missing switch was for the heated steering wheel, I really felt deprived.
So often, we feel this way in life when we begin to compare ourselves to others. We become consumed with what others have and what we don’t have. Maybe it’s a bigger house, the latest fashion trend, or some FB post that creates a desire for something you don’t have. Even though we are surrounded by blessings, we are focused on what is missing.
Hebrews 13:5 NIV tells us to “Keep your lives free from the love of money and to be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
I wish I could say that I have never been guilty of seeing someone in a pair of shoes, then grabbing my phone to search the internet to find those shoes because I just have to add them to my collection. This mindset isn’t what God desires for us. He desires for us to be content with what we have and to find our joy and pleasure in Him. Our worth and value is set by God; not by what we have.
I’m not going to lie, there is joy in getting a new pair of shoes. However, that joy is short term. It is only a couple of weeks or the next season until another pair of shoes are needed. Compare this to the promise “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Joy and peace truly can be found when we change our focus from what we might be missing to what we have and what God has provided.
I pray for you and for me that we can find our value and be content in the way God has created us and what he has provided for us instead of always looking for what is missing or what we don’t have.
Isn’t it amazing how sometimes you can be in the right place at the right time? There is a new restaurant not far from our house. As you are standing in line waiting to order, they go down the line passing out shake samples. When they run out of samples, the next person in line gets a cow bell. If you ring the cowbell as you are ordering, you get a free order of fries. Twice, I got the last shake sample and Scott got the cowbell. He rang it with full gusto to get his free fries. We were in the right place at the right time.
View From My Shoes 