Weekend musings
Rowan and I are Jack Johnson fans. I think he's described as writing 'soft rock' which sounds kind of pathetic. But he does have nice, guitar-strumming, I live by the beach type music. I remember listening to it with Rowan on a two-day, child-free holiday to the Hunter Valley in 2005 (a distant memory - the last time we went away on our own).
We both read an article yesterday in Saturday's Good Weekend magazine about Jack Johnson. I was envious of the ease of his life. Living in a beach shack, beautiful wife, three kids, writing a love song every now and then, making stacks of money. Rowan said 'he's just so laid back'. What a life!
I thought we could do that. I'd happily leave the craziness of inner city Sydney life behind. When we lived in the city, near the uni, people would say 'how great - you can go out for coffee all the time'. I think we went out about twice in two years - taking five small children to a cafe is just a teeny, weeny bit stressful.
We could move to a coastal town, live near the beach. I don't want a big house (all that cleaning). Get jobs that paid the bills.
But then I realised, we aren't living that life. We aren't living that life because our life is not just about us. It's not about what we'd prefer to do. Many years ago we made a choice to serve God with our life and trust him to take us to the people that he wanted us to serve. I thought that might be somewhere exotic but as its worked out it has been at Sydney Uni. Where Rowan and I met. Not exotic, but important.
So I'll just look forward to that beach shack sometime in the future ...
We both read an article yesterday in Saturday's Good Weekend magazine about Jack Johnson. I was envious of the ease of his life. Living in a beach shack, beautiful wife, three kids, writing a love song every now and then, making stacks of money. Rowan said 'he's just so laid back'. What a life!
I thought we could do that. I'd happily leave the craziness of inner city Sydney life behind. When we lived in the city, near the uni, people would say 'how great - you can go out for coffee all the time'. I think we went out about twice in two years - taking five small children to a cafe is just a teeny, weeny bit stressful.
We could move to a coastal town, live near the beach. I don't want a big house (all that cleaning). Get jobs that paid the bills.
But then I realised, we aren't living that life. We aren't living that life because our life is not just about us. It's not about what we'd prefer to do. Many years ago we made a choice to serve God with our life and trust him to take us to the people that he wanted us to serve. I thought that might be somewhere exotic but as its worked out it has been at Sydney Uni. Where Rowan and I met. Not exotic, but important.
So I'll just look forward to that beach shack sometime in the future ...
Comments
It's a lot easier giving up the 'good life' when we remember that we serve a God who has a 'better life' in mind for us.