The other day I started playing a rather popular game on facebook. Candy Crush.
I hated it.
It’s a silly game, and at first it was a little fun. But as the levels got more and more difficult it started to get annoying.
I would spend two or three days trying to get past one level.
It drove me nuts!
But I kept playing! A spiral of time committed to this game.
Why? I finally came up short with the question. The game was not enjoyable anymore but I still had this drive to keep going. I had to beat it!
We can all have a bit of that drive, though maybe it doesn’t always display itself in something as simple as a facebook game. The drive for accomplishment, the drive for meaning, the drive for that rush you feel when you’ve won.
It seems to me that quite a lot of this world takes advantage of that drive. The drive that robs a person of intimacy in their family and marriage because they seek accomplishment and recognition in the workplace. We’ve become a society that seeks escape into this feeling of accomplishment because we don’t know how to find meaning in what is truly meaningful!
It’s not that a job isn’t meaningful, but relationships are more so. Candy Crush and other games are certainly NOT meaningful, but they give a sense of accomplishment and a place to escape, and they suck up so many hours of our lives in senselessness.
There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is meaningless- a miserable business! Ecclesiastes 4:8
Senseless Accomplishment.
It can fill our days, it can fill our nights, it comes in all forms and disguises.
And it sucks away our life.
We were not ever meant to journey this world without meaning.
I submit to you readers, that our time and efforts are of much more value than we seem to give ourselves. We waste our time constantly in this consumer culture on things that don’t even have value in the moment. We give our effort over to accomplishments that only give a moment of satisfaction but no lasting value.
But what gives life meaning?
An artist wishes to leave a lasting impression on the world, and some do, but most are forgotten. A poet is the same. A businessmen wishes to rise to the top of his field, but so often is never remembered for anything that he does. What lasts? Is everything we strive for going to pass away into dust?
Hearts and Souls. Hearts and Souls last.
I submit to you readers, that meaning is found in relationship. That the most central relationship is the one we have with God. That beyond that our relationships with our family build our lives. That the ripples of our lives in the lives around us has more value than any accomplishment we might achieve.
The Bible talks about working as if our work is for the Lord. Storing up for ourselves treasures in Heaven of lasting value.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24
What treasures do we store up in Heaven? What can we bring with us?
Hearts and Souls. Hearts and Souls.
What you did today matters in how it ripples into peoples hearts and souls. What you said today matters in how it ripples into hearts and souls. And every moment we have to send out those ripples is so immensely valuable. Because we never get those moments back.
And I waste them playing candy crush?
Value your time my friend, and the gifts of your heart. Use these treasures wisely.
It’s not that some time of play is wrong, but I wasted so very much time. Time I could have spent cuddling my daughter. It wasn’t worth it.
Weigh what you do carefully on the scales. Try to spend your time wisely. Invest your heart wisely.
We will all face a day where we look back on every moment of our lives and are called to show how we spent it. We’re only given this one life to live, and to love, and to impact our world. So every day, we should review and ask ourselves some hard questions.
Did we love God with every fiber of our hearts today?
Did we love others with our actions and our words today?
Were we responsible with what God has given us?
Did we live a life of meaning?
Or did we chase after senseless feelings of accomplishment?
Where did we place our treasure today?
In stuff?
Or Hearts and Souls?
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. Ecclesiastes 12:13
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40
~Joy Aletheia Stevens
Photo Credit: by JD (CC BY 2.0)
Photo Credit: by Jasen Miller (CC BY 2.0)
Photo Credit: by D Sharon Pruitt (CC BY 2.0)
Leave a Reply