My yellow leather bag has all my comfort goods inside: a wallet, a cell phone, a camera, a sketchpad, a set of door keys and an umbrella. They are the things I can't leave home without. But just a couple of days ago, I accidentally "lost" the bag. Usually, I could trace my steps back to know if I really misplaced it or if I was robbed. But this time, I knew I brought it to the car and I intentionally left it in the car when mom and I passed by a grocery. Although I don't normally leave my bag in the car, I decided to do so since my dad would be waiting for us there anyway. We went back to the car, picked up my cousin along the way, and then I discovered my bag was missing.
Goodbye cash and cards, goodbye license and IDs, goodbye camera. Goodbye comfort zone. I felt like I was stripped off of something, again. I felt like someone was using wax to peel off my unnecessary hair, one strip after the other. Before I could even learn to endure the agonizing pricking and feel the great liberation of letting go, here come the next painful strip.. pulling more hair from the core of their roots. The mess in the renovation, the death, the loss, and other environmental woes were eating up my strength.
What's in my bag anyway? Money and items (exchanged with money) that can be earned and regained, lost and destroyed. It was like an impounding lesson that the world is fleeting and we cannot hold on to things (and even people) as much as we want to. No matter how tight we clench them with our fists, they are bound to leave. This could probably be why Jesus said "Man doesn't live on bread alone, but on every word of God." They are not able to bring peace and joy to our being, love to our hearts and life to our soul.
Then I asked, how can I earn a living by simply reading Your word? I realized that there's something more important than seeking what people want through marketing research and pleasing these people with innovative products, or writing what they simply want to hear and caring for their comments. There's one very essential thing that I am guilty of forgetting.
As an invention, what I ought to do depends on my Inventor. It is primarily between me and Him. It is not the market that will set my path straight. Nor is it the comments of readers that will dictate my auteur mark.
I should fear the Lord more than I fear men.
I should trust the Lord more than I trust men.
So, it is now between just You and me, Lord. Just You and me.
My bag was found the next day in my cousin's place.
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