We have some funny friends. Josh and one of these funny friends were exchanging texts a couple of years ago. I can’t remember exactly how the term “L-I-V-I-N'” came to be, but it was related to the new-found ease we were experiencing with the ages of our kids. They had recently added a precious baby to their family, and we were entering the wonderful stage of parenthood when you no longer had to serve a monthly duty in nursery if you weren’t called to that area, where everyone could potty alone, shower alone, eat alone, walk alone–no strollers or carriers required, and everyone could buckle up in the car alone. It’s a nirvana of sorts on this journey of parenting.
We were truly L-I-V-I-N’!
We laugh about that text exchange often. LIVIN’ is what we all want, isn’t it? Not surviving, barely making it through each day. We want LIFE! Full, productive, passionate and purposeful LIFE! Sometimes we mistakenly think this LIFE comes with ease in parenting or comforts in our day-to-day life,a healthy body, a paid off house, or vacations, a better job, a financial inheritance that enters our life at the perfect time, allowing us to retire early and travel the world.
Or it could be that we aren’t so grandiose about our ideal of what truly LIVIN’ looks like. We just want a refrigerator that doesn’t leak and that gives out ice and water from the door like it is supposed to! We think life would be better if that back passenger door on our car would open up from the inside on its own (I have no idea why that door won’t open from the inside…). Or maybe we are just sure that life would be more satisfying if we lost 20 pounds. A covered back deck would allow living through summer to be more enjoyable.
You catch my drift. I’ve fallen into these ways of thinking many times. God has used our personal journey to teach me in up-close and personal ways that life is not found in anything here on earth. Josh has been known to say to me (after a pity-party or reading off a list of what I would like to change around here), “Life isn’t found in those things.” We have given up our “dream home” before. We have barely had two pennies to rub together. We have also had an abundance of material possessions and the blessing of a great job that paid well. Whether circumstances were difficult or circumstances were easy, life wasn’t lost or found in either.
Jesus makes this crystal clear when He is praying and says this in John 17:3,
“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
There you have it.
L-I-V-I-N’ = knowing God and Jesus Christ.
John 6:35- “Jesus said, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.’ ”
He is our constant source of stability in a world where life can change in a millisecond. Let’s cling to LIFE. Let’s cling to Jesus.
Then, we will be truly L-I-V-I-N’ !
