“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”
Matthew 6:21“Set your hearts on things above” Colossians 3:2
Jan and I sat in the cafe musing about what our dream homes would look like and where they would be. We were currently living in a country not of our birth, in houses certainly more than adequate but not truly of our own choosing. We led busy lives and on this particular day were probably more than a little weary.
Jana whose not adept at or fond of cooking described her future kitchen: “About the size of a closet with only an efficient microwave and very small refrigerator.” We agreed that our preferred site would be on the eastern United States sea-coast in a weather beaten cottage with a white fence around the yard.
Many years have gone by. Jan lives in a quaint, small home but it is on the outskirts of a major metropolitan area. My life is lived in a condominium in a suburban setting thousands of miles from the sea.
Have our dreams gone unfulfilled? Were our musings wasted time? Both Jan and I have moved into lives that have many challenges but are overall satisfying. (She still doesn’t cook much but owns a full-sized kitchen!) Our longings for the sea are partially indulged by an occasional holiday visit.
It is not wrong to keep a notebook of fabric swatches for the furniture of our dreams. House plans, garden layouts, paint chips of favorite colors are good memory joggers. But when dreams of the future supplant following hard after God’s plans for today, we can easily be diverted from His best for us.
Father, it is so easy to lose my focus on your grand plans. Keep me ever vigilant to hear your heart, then my own desires will fit perfectly into your own.
by Marilyn Ehle
used by permission
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