One Hundred Years

I've recently experienced a deep dissapointment that has caused me to reflect on something I say often, which is, "It won't matter a hundred years from now". The details of my dissapointment aren't important but how I deal with it is. In light of the person I'm trying to be, I'm struck by the importance of what this situation means to me. What I'm dealing with revolves around expectations, family, and finances; or the lack of them. I'm reminded about the prayers of committal spoken at a gravesite, "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust", because we come into this world with nothing and we leave with nothing. Reading from The New American Bible Genesis 3:19 says, "By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return." I'll admit I feel like dirt right now.

Jesus summoned the Twelve and said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic" (Luke 9:3). This wasn't about keeping them poor but was intended to help them begin the process of detaching themselves from the things that might hold them down. This experience is reminding me that I need to detach myself from a few more things that are holding me down. This dissapointment is so difficult for me right now because suddently I'm having to re-evaluate my undertanding and expectations of family and finances. It's a tough thing for me to deal with, but if I view it as a test of my personal witness and convictions, it might be a bit easier. After all, Jesus said that I am "much more valuable" than this thing and "worrying about it won't add a single hour to my life".

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they (Matthew 6:25-33)? He also said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be (Matthew 6:19-21). "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself (Matthew 6:33-34)". God's message to me is, each day has enough trouble of its own and I should not worry. Like the Twelve who began to walk, to preach, to cure, and to live life fully, I need to kneel, listen, and focus on a life that is lived in Christ Jesus.