Growing up we never went out to dinner. Unless it was a special occasion. My mother cooked three meals a day 7 days a week. Except when my father was out of town. It was then that we would travel the 10 minutes to the only McDonalds around. We would excitedly dine on a plain cheeseburger, small coca-cola, and we would split a small bag of french fries. Total luxury.
My only other memory of going out to eat, aside from vacations, was the night my baby brother was born. I was six. My dad ordered me my first Shirley Temple. With an extra cherry. Pure extravagance.
Life was just different. There weren't convenience stores on every block. Gas stations only sold gas. The filling station attendants pumped your gas for you. They checked your fluids and cleaned your windshield. They asked you how your day was. No one was in a hurry.
I will never forget riding with my childhood friend Jeni and her grown sister to get gas. Katy gave us $1 to go get a slurpee from the "7-11" next door. We came out with two cherry slurpee's. We proudly walked back to her car with red lips and big smiles. Katy wasn't smiling. She was furious. She meant for us to split one. Who splits a slurpee? Our 5th grade minds certainly couldn't imagine it. She was leaving to go back to college that afternoon. That 50 cents would have purchased over a gallon of gas. She wanted her change. And we had spent it on cherry ice deliciousness.
My mother took me shopping for clothes three times a year. Back to school, spring clothes, and summer camp clothing. Oh, and a new Easter dress every year. In August I got to pick out church shoes, school shoes, and tennis shoes. Big ticket items like, monogram sweaters, bermuda bags & add-a-bead necklaces-I'm a product of the preppy handbook era- were received on my birthday or Christmas. That's it. And I didn't expect anymore or any less.
I'm not sure when the shift in this country went from frugal to frivolous. Probably the 1980's. It happened slowly. During the Reagan, Clinton, and Bush years people were still pretty entrenched in their community churches. Yet the whole country was prospering, accumulating wealth. As people made more money, bought more things, increased their vacations, and recreation time we started to loose our faith and our families. Ever so quietly satan tip toed in.
Somewhere along the way we started to appoint ourselves more important than God. Oh, we all still attended church. Because, well, good people go to church. And we made sure we went to the "right" church. We showed up as a nation, on Sunday mornings, to get our ears tickled with a warm and fuzzy message. A sermon to get us through the week. Make us feel good about who we are. We were busy, as a nation, doing good. Serving on church committees, building bigger churches, working in soup kitchens. Slowly, church became less about the fear of The Lord and more about the feel good of The Lord.
My husband and I are prime examples. We married two months after college. Our long term goal for our marriage was to make a lot of money. My husband will tell you to this day he became a stock broker because of the movie "Wall Street". We wanted the house, the perfect children, a dog, vacations, fancy cars. We wanted the American dream. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It only becomes an issue when those things become more important than He does. When the "things" take precedence over the One who ordained the steps to achieve the dream. When we say "I did this" rather than "By God's grace I've been blessed".
What happens, however, when you've purchased everything you've ever wanted and it's still not enough? What happens when illness strikes your family? What happens if you've based your self worth on your material possessions? Your children's successes? What happens when having it all still leaves you empty? What happens if you loose it all? If your kids aren't successful? Your marriage falls apart? Who are you then?
Here is who God says you are:
I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ unto good works- (Ephesians 2:10)
I am a new creature in Christ-(2 Corinthians 5:17)
I am a joint-heir with Christ-(Romans 8:17)
I am forgiven of all my sins and washed in the Blood-(Ephesians 1:7)
I am called of God to be the voice of His praise-(Psalm 66:8; 2 Timothy 1:9)
I am greatly loved by God-(Romans 1:7)
I am a new creature in Christ-(2 Corinthians 5:17)
I am a joint-heir with Christ-(Romans 8:17)
I am forgiven of all my sins and washed in the Blood-(Ephesians 1:7)
I am called of God to be the voice of His praise-(Psalm 66:8; 2 Timothy 1:9)
I am greatly loved by God-(Romans 1:7)
In this extravagant, complicated world, life really is meant to be quite simple. In the end, what matters is who you are in Christ. Who the Lord says you are. Not your neighbor, your family, your colleagues. God. He's all that matters. Live your life to please Him. Once you begin to do that you see the noise of this world truly does not matter. You are able to look at a beautiful sunset and say "Thank you". You are able to look at the ocean and say "Lord, you are exquisite". You are able to look at your life, with all of its imperfections, and say "In you, Lord, I am complete".
"For you make me glad by your deeds, LORD; I sing for joy at what your hands have done."-Psalm 92:4
