The Bigger the Better...really?

How well do you really know yourself?

Often, people get so busy going about all of the tasks they have to do in a day, in a week, in a month, in a year...it's easy to get lost in the busyness of the world.  So lost, that beauty, simplicity, and miracles of the moment are missed altogether.

AT&T has been running a marketing campaign with the slogan "More is Better."  The commercials show adorable interactions with children explaining that bigger, faster, and more is always better.  Although the ads are sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, there is a part of me that cringes every time I see one.   The other day I jokingly said to myself that I wanted put together an ad campaign with the solgan "Live Simply" or "Less is More."  AT&T's ad campaign is doing fantastic.  Nearly everyone I have spoken to about the commercials know exactly which commercials I am talking about and even have a favorite.  The commercials connect with a cultural meta-narrative that nearly everyone can relate to:  getting more of what you want is always better.  This idea resonates with so many that it almost seems like the truth.  Why is that?  I am not so sure that more is always better.  In fact, I think it is quite possible that more is often worse.  Is it possible that we have been so programmed by our culture to seek achievement, productivity, effectiveness, success, fame, power, and luxury that we have come to believe that the more we have, the easier life is:  the more we have, the better we are as people.

The interesting thing about God's Kingdom is that it starkly different from the society norms we live by in our world.  Where we say more is better, God says less is more.  Where we divide into groups, God unites into one.  Where we become distracted, God stays focused.  In God's Kingdom, our cultural norms mean nothing.  They are just earthly treasures that will one pass away into meaningless dust.  But still, the masses are confused spending their lives trying to find happiness in all of the wrong places.

God created in every being this deep desire to know Him and for thousands of years humanity has been searching to find the one thing that will finally quench their never-ending thirst.  Things like good grades, good jobs, nice homes, expensive cars, luxury vacations, and brand name clothes have been tried and found wanting.  Money, food, drugs, fitness, and beauty don't seem to quite do the job either.  Even our closest friends and family members can't fill this void.  No matter where we turn we are eventually disappointed and left thirsting for more.  Why?  Because what we are searching for can only be found in God, our maker and the lover of our souls.  I believe this is what Jesus was getting at when he met the Samaritan woman at the well.  After a few minutes of being together, Jesus reveals to her that He knows everything she ever did and understands that she is still thirsty.  Then he tells her what she needs...what we all need:  everlasting water that can only be found in Him.  She is so excited that she goes to her village and tells everyone "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did."  She was so persuasive that the entire town went to meet Jesus and they too believed and received the water that could quench their souls forever.

Now here's a spoiler alert: Our relationship with God isn't always as easy as it reads in the story of the woman at the well.  In fact I think there might be more to that story.  I imagine that after everyone met Christ and accepted Him as the Messiah, they met regularly and worked out their salvation together.  I imagine that they prayed to God and wrestled with all kinds of things they couldn't understand.  I imagine that there was still hardships and toil in their lives, but because of their faith in Christ, they found themselves abundantly full even in the most desolate circumstances.

The truth is, relationships don't happen in an instant.  Relationships are a process and involve work from both sides.  You meet, you get to know one another, trust builds, and over the years you grow closer because of what you journey through together.   Loving God, like loving others, takes time and energy to build a relationship. It takes an openness and willingness to let go and let God be in control.  For most people in the western world giving up control can be the most difficult, but when we finally give in something amazing happens.  God shows us His dreams for us; dreams of a beautiful, abundant, joyful, happy life. The amazing thing about God, is that no matter how long it takes, how hard you fight against Him, God doesn't abandon.  God never gives up.  Since the dawn of creation and until the end of the age God is always seeking our heart.  He will continue to wait for us to slow down enough to be still, to know that He is God, and to say yes to all that He wants to do in our lives. AND, when we finally do surrender to God's love, we begin to be transformed and our lives take a shape we never could have dreamed up for ourselves.

I was talking with a person very dear to me about some struggles she is experiencing in life.  She was struggling with her emotions about a particular issue and finally I asked, "Have you ever told God how you really feel?" After a moment of silence, I followed that question up with "Have you ever taken the time to admit to yourself how you really feel?"  After a few moments, she answered "No."  I don't think she was intentionally hiding anything from herself or from God.  Actually, I think that like so many others, she hadn't set time aside to be intentional about caring for her soul by being in communion with God.

I love that in Italy museums, shops, and churches close during the middle of the day for rest.  It reminds me that we all need time to rest and be still.  What would happen this week if you committed to giving yourself some time to listen and be still?  Better yet, what would happen this week if you responded to God's unending invitation to be with him in the still and quiet places?  You might discover things about yourself you never knew existed.  You might find God at work in all sorts of places in your small world.  If I were a betting person, I would even bet that you too might discover that slower can actually be better than faster and that less really is more.

Attitude is Everything...Application Makes All the Difference

About two years ago, I was at Big Stuf camps with a group of wonderful teenagers, when I heard Andy Stanley talk about how our attitudes and actions our experiences in relationships and life.  His two catch phrases stuck with me:  Attitude is Everything & Application Makes All the Difference

Many of you may know that my family recently took a 24 road trip.  The goal was to re-connect with one another as we visited special people and places in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.  We dreamed dreams and had visions for the entire spring semester as we moved closer and closer to our fantastic family adventure.

Isn't it funny how you always have grand dreams and romanticized visions of what your family vacation will be like?  We see ourselves in one of those cool outdoorsy car commercials where everyone is one with nature and each other, the weather is beautiful, and a new age song plays in the background demanding an emotional response of happiness and contentment.  Maybe for some of you this becomes a reality - but for the Harris family, our adventures never seem to go off without a hitch; and this one was no different.

So, its day one and we are on our way for our first ever family camping experience at Chicisaw State Park in TN.  We are thrilled.  We are prepared.  We are ready to be one with nature and one with each other. We are ready to rediscover our humanity and God's creation.  We are ready to have fun!  And in true Harris fashion, we are about 45 minutes down the road, our kids are melting down in the backseat fighting with one another about some inconsequential disagreement.  All too quickly there was screaming, yelling, and meanness spiraling out of control in the back seat and the before I even realized what was happening, we are pulled over having a time out on the side of the highway.

Application makes all the difference.  What parent really wants to start off their vacation with disciplining one of their children.  Is that fun for anyone?  But when we talk about doing something and never follow through, we create huge problems for ourselves.  This applies to everything in life.

Think about it.
 
How often do you argue with your spouse or parents over things that someone said they would do but never did?

Or how often do you find yourself yelling at your kids because they were supposed to do something but never did.

At work, at home, at school, in relationships - application makes all the difference.

We can talk all day about the kind of people we want to be, our hopes, our dreams, and our principals.  We can even educate ourselves about the best ways to handle the various obstacles in life, but without application, its all worthless.  Until we are willing to make sacrifices to follow through, its nothing but words and ideas.  The action--the application makes our intentions a reality.  

After a short visit from a state trooper and twenty minutes of tears and sweat, the necessary apologies were made and the Harris Family Adventure continued - without additional disciplinary action needed.  The next 5 hours were pretty uneventful.  We listened to music, played the alphabet game, ate, slept, tweeted, Facebooked, and texted until finally we pulled off the interstate.  We stopped at the grocery to get the last few things we needed for dinner that night and made our way to the campsite, which couldn't have been more perfect.  It was beautiful.  A nice flat spot on the lake with a picnic table and a fire ring setting beneath a thick canopy of trees providing lots of shade.  The playground was just a five minute walk up the pavement with a newly renovated bathhouse for restrooms and showers.  All I could think was "It's going to be a great weekend."

To avoid additional chaos, my husband, Jason, decided to take on the tent alone while the kids and I explored our surroundings, gathered wood for a fire, and made our way to the playground and bath house.  After all, we'd been in the car several hours and we all gotta go sometime.  So, ran in to relieve myself in the bath house while the kids played together on the swing set and all of a sudden I heard loud noises outside that are only getting louder by the second.  I made my way outside as quickly as possible.  I was greeted abruptly with strong winds and pouring rain.  By the time we make it back to camp we all look like we climbed out of the lake, including Jason who has been working on the tent in the rain.

When our eyes met, I could see the rage and frustration in Jason's face.  I scanned the scene:  our unloaded belongings are sopping wet, the tent has fallen down and is now mostly submerged in a puddle of water, my oldest child is screaming, and it is still raining, thundering, and lightening.  Jason explained in his angry voice that the tent was almost completely set up when he realized our stuff was on the table.  He ran to get our stuff into the car and the tent fell.  Now all of our stuff is wet - clothes, sleeping bags, food, the inside of the car, and the inside of the tent.  We are completely stuck and seem to have no option but to sit in the rain.  Everyone is aggravated, disappointed, and exhausted, but to my amazement I found myself laughing - belly   laughing - laughing so hard it hurts.  I just couldn't help it.  Being the perfectionist I am, failing so miserably at what ought to have been a fairly simple task is just so ridiculous there was just nothing else I could do but laugh.

Over the next twenty minutes, we figured out a way to get into some dryer clothes, packed up, and got back into the car.  Just as we were about to leave our failed camping trip behind, thinking we had confronted all of the possible mishaps, I roll over Jason's foot with the car.  Yes - you read that correctly.  I rolled over - JASON'S FOOT with THE CAR.

This is not the trendy car commercial vacation we had in mind.  Is this vacation cursed?  I am ashamed to admit that I found myself asking, "Why us?  What did we do to deserve this?" ... but I am also proud to say that my perspective changed quickly.  It had to. That attitude wasn't going to help anyone.

Attitude is everything.  When we start to feel sorry for ourselves, we can drown in our own self pity.  How quickly do things change when we focus on our blessedness rather than our shortcomings.  What about the fact that we had the ability to take a vacation at all?  Or how about the three beautiful people that God brought into my life to help me find abundance, compassion, empathy, love, and beauty in this world?  The very car we were sitting in was a gift from someone - yea, that's right - someone GAVE us a car!  And the car is filled with food, water, clothing, and electronics.  In this moment, we have more than most people in the world, even in our soaking wet mess of a camping trip.  Believe it or not, God has given us all the ability to control our emotions and attitudes.  Choosing to have an attitude of gratitude and contentment can change your entire life experience.  Choosing laughter over anger, breathing over screaming, and giving over taking makes a unbelievable difference.  Have you ever been on a mission trip overseas, where the people are desperately poor, diseased, homeless, or abused, yet they have deeper joy and firmer faith than you could imagine for yourself?  Our attitudes toward one another and toward our circumstances are powerful - attitude is everything.

This was just the beginning of our 24-day Harris Family Adventure.  We recovered from our epic failure at the campground and found our way to Memphis, adding an unexpected stop in our summer journey.  Thankfully, we found lots of free activities in Memphis.  We read books to one another at a phenomenal library, we visited the ducks at The Peabody Hotel and made wishes in the fountain, and we learned about the Mississippi River at Mud Island.  The kids learned how to play Yahtzee.  We boated, sunbathed, visited our loved ones, and shared many more family firsts.  Most importantly, we worked hard to love one another, to keep a positive attitude, and to live our faith together as a family by forgiving one another, serving one another, and laughing with one another.

Attitude is everything.  Application makes all the difference.

Of course we continued to hit bumps in the road on our trip because for the Harris family, the car commercial vacations aren't a reality.  Instead, we tend to do life a tad more authentically and I am beginning to think that our actual vacations are better than those car commercials anyway.