celebrate rice

{via}

i've mentioned briefly that i am studying the book of Revelation with my bestie.

we've been picking this book apart & listening to lots of sermons along the way,
because, well, we are just not smart enough to really get it on our own.
anywho, we recently listened to a rockin sermon on The Letter to Smyrna,
so I thought I would share part of it with you today...

It seems that the wealthiest people we see in Scripture don’t seem to be wealthy at all. In fact if you looked at the state of their soul, they seem tired, anxiety ridden, overwhelmed. They don’t seem all that alive. Options. That’s what money gets you. Like I’ve been trying to figure out, because the Bible doesn’t say a lot about the poor, it just says, blessed are they... Do you think maybe that our options might be killing us? Do you think we can never really enjoy what we have because we can always have more?

Jonathan just got back with his team from Liberia. There’s this orphanage there that we work with, and he just asked two of the boys in the orphanage what their favorite food was. And with big smiles on their face they answered like this, “Rice! We love rice!” You know why they love rice? ‘Cause steak ain’t an option. Follow me. It’s nothing...or it’s rice. And so there’s awe and gratitude and joy built around rice. And I’m wondering how many of us loose out on depth and beauty and gratitude and joy because we can never see how blessed we are because we can always get something else.

And so we’re not grateful for what we have because we can always get something else. And I’m wondering if options are killing us. Like how many of us, we can never enjoy where we are because we always looking for what’s coming next. Like we can never enjoy where we are because we are always looking forward to graduation, or we’re always looking forward to next semester, or we’re always looking to the next promotion, to the next house, to the next car, to the next relationship. And I’m wondering how many of us never enjoy the beauty and see the beauty around us right now because we never are where we are.

It’s what the poor don’t have. Options. So they are where they are, so they celebrate rice. They celebrate rice...

Options... I cannot celebrate my daily PB&J because all I can think about is the day that I'm no longer a poor college kid and can afford something a little "better." I know that's a small example, but think about the bigger implications... Like, how often do I miss out on life because I'm so caught up in stupid things like food, or clothes, or my stuff... How much of my time is spent in pursuit of those peripheral things at the cost of my soul? The questions that he posed in this sermon hit me square between the eyes... I think he's right, as wealthy people (if you're reading this, that means you), we are too often consumed with the options. We have to fight to remember that life, not just breathing and existing, but deep and meaningful life has nothing to do with food, or clothing, or the stuff that accumulates in our closets. Depth of life is not synonymous with tangible wealth.

so, i'm posing a challenge to you and to me...
may we seek to understand that life is not the summation of our stuff,
may we come to see how blessed we are,
may we experience depth, and beauty, and gratitude and joy in this life,
and may we learn to celebrate rice (or whatever the equivalent may be for you)!

I encourage you to check out this website... just by answering a few easy questions, a quantity of rice will be donated to those in need who will surely celebrate a full tummy. oh, and if you have any patience left, you should really listen to the whole sermon (here)... it's worth your time.