Being Content

Sufficiency


You can have this whole world, but give me Jesus – lyrics from a song, author unfound

Being self-sufficient is a much sought after trait these days. Relationships fail, jobs end, parents divorce, and money runs out. Having our own accomplishments, our own trophies that we can point to give us a sense of pride and a confidence that whatever the world may throw at us we can handle it. We like to know that when all else fails, we can count on ourselves.

As encouraging as this awareness might be, its also wholly false. If we’re honest with ourselves, we know that we are the most frequent culprit of disappointed expectations. We’re never as good, or as nice, or as smart as we want to be. We all have our “D’oh!” Homer Simpson moments. Hopefully these moments are more about finding our remote control in the refrigerator than causing a rift in a relationship, but we all probably have plenty of both to fill a book. Being self-sufficient may seem like a nice ideal, but its an illusion.

Our accomplishments, our work, our achieved goals can no more be counted on during tough times to sustain us, than they could ensure that we would have continued success. When this is all stripped away, when our pride no longer can puff us up to such a degree that we walk on water all our own, what is left to depend on?

For the Christian, then answer is Jesus. And as often as we turn to Him when things are tough, the challenge is to have the same kind of reliance when things are good. While we are accomplishing those goals, reaching those dreams, and loving our relationships, do we daily sacrifice all of it to Him and acknowledge that even if everything is stripped away, we have all we need, because we have Him?

Jonah had to go to the bottom of the whale to learn this truth and even then the lesson didn’t stick. May we learn it while we are still atop dry land.

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Relationships

Links in a Chain


I have one of the coolest jobs in the world. As the marketing director for a jewelry design and manufacturing company, I get the opportunity to be surrounding by sparkly things all day. It’s pretty much a girl’s dream job and because we make the jewelry here in the States, I not only get to understand the design concept, but get to see that concept translated into reality.

When people come to visit our factory, one of the things that I like to tell them is that no one realizes how complicated a piece of jewelry really is. Even a simple pendant has at least a half dozen components that go into creating it. All of these details have to be thought through in order to execute the design fully. Otherwise the strength of the design, and the strength of the product, would be compromised.

The amazing thing about all those components is that you have to have each of them for the product to be saleable. You can’t fudge on one and expect to still have a pendant that someone could actually wear. Every jumpring, every casting, every link is important.

In her book “God Gave Us A Valley”, Helen Roseveare writes about her experience returning to the Congo after rebellion had destroyed the land. Originally trained as a medical missionary, her return trip was primarily spent building a medical school where she found herself much more of an administrator than a doctor. Questioning the value of the years that were spent building the school and her own life calling as a missionary she was reminded that her latter work might not have involved a lot of personal evangelistic efforts, but that through her work multitudes of others had been trained and executed that call. “Not every one can be the last link in the chain” she was told. Sometimes our efforts have to be built upon others before the Designer’s final masterpiece is complete. Being the middle link may not be as flashy as being the last, but they are all necessary.

As someone who feels that she rarely takes the opportunity to directly share about her faith, this brings me comfort. As someone who is involved in training the next generation to be witnesses of Christ’s love in business, this brings me joy. For every Christian, it should bring confidence that all the work that we do on our Father’s behalf is used for His purposes and therefore is valued and important.

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