Day 6: Life Is a Temporary Assignment

I've never really been a temporary assignment kind of person! The idea of not being able to fully settle in somewhere has simply never been appealing to me. That's why even when I came home from college and all of my friends were doing temp work I just could not bring myself to do it even though they were getting paid so well. (Like $20 an hr, it was crazy!!!!) I want to be able to put up pictures, have toys on my desk, and be settled in. I've never lived in a house with unpacked boxes, because when I move in I make a commitment to my space! I unpack, choose color patterns, put up pictures, and decide where things go! There will be no unpacked boxes hiding in my house!!!! No more wire hangers!!!! Okay, so I'm not this intense about it , but I do feel strongly about the whole unpacking thing.

However, after reading today's devotion I think that in many instances I've committed to this space (Earth) too fully! I've invested too much time and energy in things that are fleeting and/or in things that in the grand scheme of thing just don't matter. And truthfully it is precisely at the point where I feel over-invested, under appreciated, overwhelmed and burnt out that I realize almost in true light bulb fashion that I've been giving too much of myself to things that don't matter and expecting to feel fulfilled! :( In my life I have run after positions that haven't lasted, titles that have changed, people who didn't care, credentials that didn't mean that much, and objects that could be repossessed and now I am now beginning to realize that only what I do for God really matters. So, not in a real holy sense like praying and fasting are the only things important, but in the sense that now I realize that the way I treat my family and friends is a reflection of my relationship with Christ, how diligent I am on my job reflects on who I believe I am to God, and how I spend my time tells GOD what I value.

So, maybe I need to live my life the way I live on vacations. You see, when I go on vacation I do not move into the hotel room! (It always bugs me out when ppl put their clothes in the hotel draws for an over night stay....lol....anyway I digress.) No, when I go on vacation I go to have fun, try new things, experience new things, learn something, and although I am always fully committed to my time away in the back of my mind I know that I am going back home and that the hotel is just a temporary home away from home! That's why when I go away I live out of my suitcase because everything I need for my trip is in there and plus that way when its time to leave I'm ready to go! I believe that if I lived my life as if I was a foreigner living out of a packed suitcase I'd spend more time reading the Bible because it would help guide me for my trip, more time consciously investing in relationships (because I always make friends while on vacation), and less time wasting time because after all who leaves home to go somewhere else to be tired and frustrated all the time? How would today be different for you if today was the last day of your temporary assignment? I'd hug some people I care about, laugh real hard, write one more sermon, take a good nap, and go out to dinner with some people I love! (Only because where I would wanna go would take too many hours to fly there. lol) Holla at me.

~Min. Shareka aka Swift Turtle :)