Reflecting Glory
Recently, my husband and I had a crazy idea. Why not keep up with the momentum of this chaotic year and shoot a three-pointer for the cause? Let’s sell our house!
A few facts to note…
GO!
We got to work. We knew this was going to be tough, crazy and tiring, but we’d been praying about a move for a few years now and really felt like this was a great time to sell. On the first day we were bright, hopeful, joyful, and singing God’s praises as we rode the buzz of adrenaline and possibility.
We began touring potential homes. We have an awesome realtor bringing great opportunities to the table. Houses are flying on and off the market so fast you can smell the smoke!
By the end of week one, reality hit. This was hard. This was uncertain. This was exhausting. Then this past Tuesday, a bad storm took out our power and hit our property hard. Much of our work was now undone, and more work was created.
My parents came over that night to help us mitigate. Both Rob and I struggled emotionally as we spent yet another night sweating through our shirts working. We wondered if things were falling apart. We wondered if this adventure we were taking was going to turn around and bite us. We both felt the weight of temptation heavy on our chests, the desire to control more, manipulate more, produce more results.
Like good little Americans, we wanted to bend the situation to our will by hustling harder and faster to get what we wanted.
Fortunately, my dad pulled us aside that night and cleared away the fog of delusion. He reminded us about reality, about who we are and who God is.
He said, “Guys, the most important thing here isn’t that you get a great house or sell this house in the fastest time. That would all be nice, but your ultimate goal here is actually to reflect God’s glory. Let’s think about what that looks like right now.”
He went on to remind us that as we move forward, we can work hard, but we don’t have to “hustle.” It’s more important to act in accordance with the spirit in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and so on than to “make things happen,” no matter how important they seem.
I began to realize that what had started out as a fun adventure for our family had quickly turned into an idol. I wanted to move, and nothing was going to stop me. As soon as it began to fall apart, I was angry, resentful, and grouchy.
Maybe you also have big plans for this year. Maybe you are taking a leap in an unknown direction.
The world is full of people trying to manufacture their own glory by manipulating, conniving, and working non-stop to control their circumstances. But this is kind of like the moon trying to manufacture its own light.
As Christians, we know that people, much like the moon, were made not to create light but to look towards it. This takes no hustle, only surrender. As we do, our lives will effortlessly reflect a glorious, illuminating light.
Our family is still very much in the middle of this moving process and we don’t yet know what God has in store, but it’s abundantly clear how we’re to conduct ourselves along the way.
A few facts to note…
- We have not bought a new house.
- We have two boys under 4.
- Our current house has 17 unfinished projects.
- We leave for vacation in 2 weeks, so having the house ready by then would be ideal.
GO!
We got to work. We knew this was going to be tough, crazy and tiring, but we’d been praying about a move for a few years now and really felt like this was a great time to sell. On the first day we were bright, hopeful, joyful, and singing God’s praises as we rode the buzz of adrenaline and possibility.
We began touring potential homes. We have an awesome realtor bringing great opportunities to the table. Houses are flying on and off the market so fast you can smell the smoke!
By the end of week one, reality hit. This was hard. This was uncertain. This was exhausting. Then this past Tuesday, a bad storm took out our power and hit our property hard. Much of our work was now undone, and more work was created.
My parents came over that night to help us mitigate. Both Rob and I struggled emotionally as we spent yet another night sweating through our shirts working. We wondered if things were falling apart. We wondered if this adventure we were taking was going to turn around and bite us. We both felt the weight of temptation heavy on our chests, the desire to control more, manipulate more, produce more results.
Like good little Americans, we wanted to bend the situation to our will by hustling harder and faster to get what we wanted.
Fortunately, my dad pulled us aside that night and cleared away the fog of delusion. He reminded us about reality, about who we are and who God is.
He said, “Guys, the most important thing here isn’t that you get a great house or sell this house in the fastest time. That would all be nice, but your ultimate goal here is actually to reflect God’s glory. Let’s think about what that looks like right now.”
He went on to remind us that as we move forward, we can work hard, but we don’t have to “hustle.” It’s more important to act in accordance with the spirit in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and so on than to “make things happen,” no matter how important they seem.
I began to realize that what had started out as a fun adventure for our family had quickly turned into an idol. I wanted to move, and nothing was going to stop me. As soon as it began to fall apart, I was angry, resentful, and grouchy.
Maybe you also have big plans for this year. Maybe you are taking a leap in an unknown direction.
The world is full of people trying to manufacture their own glory by manipulating, conniving, and working non-stop to control their circumstances. But this is kind of like the moon trying to manufacture its own light.
As Christians, we know that people, much like the moon, were made not to create light but to look towards it. This takes no hustle, only surrender. As we do, our lives will effortlessly reflect a glorious, illuminating light.
Our family is still very much in the middle of this moving process and we don’t yet know what God has in store, but it’s abundantly clear how we’re to conduct ourselves along the way.
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