Monday, October 24th 2016

With the election comes lots of discussion of what the American Dream is.
Its definition is varied and contrasting across the board. 
I thought it was the perfect time to blow the dust off of the note card in my archive with this quote on it.
Momma copied it out of an article she found inside the In Touch magazine and shared it with me longer back than I remember. 

I guess it's not so much of an "American" dream as it is just following Jesus. 
It pairs really well with what I am studying in my personal time this week: downward mobility.

As Christians, our life goals or aspirations should look quite different than the rest of the world. Instead of going further faster, we do our best to pattern our lives after Christ, focusing on servitude and the glorification of God. 

Is that easy? No. Am I perfect at it? Heck no!
But I do find myself content even in the face of disappointment and difficulty.
And I absolutely know I am loved when my circumstances say otherwise.
All that is because of Jesus. 
He tells me who I am. I am not defined by career, marriage, home, talent, or appearance. 
Even though I grasp at all those things  frequently, I am free to keep choosing a different way.
I am free to say no to the rat-race and free to say yes to what Christ has for me. 
And what He has for me, is always enough.

Henri Nouwen said it like this, "The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross...The  downward-moving way of Jesus is the way to the joy and peace of God, a joy and peace that is not of this world."

Just a little food for thought as we make our way in the world. 
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