Living Intentionally

Lately I feel as though I am running behind LIFE trying to catch up. In my mind it is a (slightly out of control) quadruped (maybe a rhino? or a buffalo?) that's attached to a cart (our family) and it's running across the land--a meadow, a valley, a prairie, a mountain range, a river (soccer, school, piano, work, laundry, errands) and the cart is at times starting to become detached so we have to hop out and race behind the rhino and try to fix it. Every now and then our furry leader will stop at the river and have a drink, watch the scenery, and then we can breathe and refocus and then it's off again to chase after what I think must be LIFE WITH SIX PEOPLE WHO HAVE TOO MUCH GOING ON.

Something seems a little out of whack.

So then my mind, usually when the beast is drinking the water beside the river, goes to the vision of a simpler life. I think it might exist only in the 1850s, but I can still dream. We have a little cabin and a garden and a creek. I'm pretty sure there is a dishwasher and a washing machine, so I can't truly go all Little House on the Prairie. But the kids play happily in the yard, with neighbors (no arranging play dates or rsvping to birthday parties), and skip joyfully to the schoolhouse.

OR we are in Africa, where my kids are learning that there is more to life than soccer and ipods and what they do and don't want for dinner. And that our comfort is not the goal... but that it is way more satisfying to work to making others' lives better (as in having food to eat, clean water to drink, a safe place to sleep at night... things that are certain inalienable rights for us).

OR we stay where we are, but stop making our entertainment and comfort our idols. We try to make a difference in the lives around us (making Jesus first, others second, ourselves a distant third). It is not about creating little athletes or scholars or pianists. It must be about living intentionally and enjoying what God has given us, but not putting our wants above another's needs. The challenge lies in managing that in a society that does the opposite.

Is getting an athletic scholarship the goal I have for my child? Or having my child get into the best possible college? Or having the most well-behaved children? Or any number of things I can list that I consider worthless but may offend others. No, I don't want the goal of my parenting existence to be that my child is the most athletic, smartest, popular, and gets into the best school. How empty is that? I want to help my kids become compassionate people who get that there is severe suffering and sorrow in the world, and that they can make a difference. I want them to care for others in that they would sacrifice their comfort to ease someone else's pain.

Again, we have to live intentionally, with clear goals. I need to come up with those goals, and I must try to make those goals the buffalo so they are steering our decisions and how we spend our time.