Garden vs. Gotta Have It

This was first posted on Facebook by me on February 17, 2009

Time and again in the Bible; it is the times when the person gets away from people (isolation) and becomes silent before God that they are able to draw closer to him and seek his guidance.

Moses atop the mountain, Jesus in the Garden, etc, etc.

I hypothesize that in fact the American 'dream' as it has become is more stuff, more stuff, better stuff, better stuff. The concept of having a better life than your parents had has brought our nation to a point where we burst from the womb and head directly to debt so that we can quickly acquire a better house, cars and social standing than our parents had.

The debt demands higher paying jobs, more work hours and less time with your family and with God to ensure keeping up the facade that you have reached a superior position than your parents took 20 years to obtain.

What is not realized is that while your parents have an 'inferior' lifestyle, they are not in debt. Even if they are completely broke with $0.00 in the bank they in fact are far more wealthy than we are. We are $100,000's in debt.

While it took them 20-30 years to pay it off, we will be in debt for the rest of our lives.

Now... who has the better lifestyle?

Sorry for the tangent; back to the main purpose of this....

I believe that the busy life of America is a specific and intentional plan to keep your mind unfocused and loud so that you can not stop long enough to listen to God and let him act in your life.

If you don't have time to read his word, to get away from all people for a few hours and be silent before him listening.. how can you listen to him? If you can't listen to him.. how can you become sensitive to his desires? If you can't become sensitive to his desires then all you have is your own desires. As lovely as those can be, they may be vastly contrary to what God is wanting in your life.

There are so many issues to talk about here... Greed, Pride, etc. Is this what has become of the American Dream?

I ask this....

Does the American Dream now mean... abandon your relationship with God so that you can become in debt to companies and the government so that you can temporarily live a life of illusion?