That's not a couch around your neck.

This is a phrase I heard in Sunday school this week and I haven't been able to get it out of my head.

I, like probably many of my friends out there, often struggle with feeling frustration and sometimes just plain old anger with difficult situations in life.  Not just in my life but also in the lives of my friends and family.  Why does it seem like our best laid plans always fall apart?  Why is it so hard to get our lives "in order"?  Why does life seem so exhausting and uncomfortable and relentless at times?  The earth that we call home is indeed full of beauty and wonder, love and joy, hope and laughter; but these things are often fleeting moments of life.  They surprise us out of the blue like a stunning sunset, we wait expectantly for them like Christmas morning or the visit of a long unseen friend, and sometimes we simply fall relieved and grateful into them when we gather to sit and chat with those who understand us best.  But there is of course another side to the coin of life; one that brings fear and pain, sadness and loss, struggles of all kinds.

I appreciate pragmatism and I agree with those who would say life can't always be smiles and good times.  We have to work for the things that we want and need and anything worthwhile should require a significant effort.  But why is it friends that most of us have a desire not simply for good enough but for perfection (in our own minds anyway) in nearly everything we see and do when we should logically know that 99% of the time that is probably not going to happen?  Most parents don't simply wish for their children to turn out pretty ok and have a mostly alright life.  If we have our choice of a place to live we look for more than just a simple roof over our heads.  No, we want the tile floors, double vanities, crown molding and a lazy boy chair for good measure.  Heck many of us are slathering lotions and make up on every day in an effort to make our own faces look just a little bit closer to perfect.  Why do we do these things?  Why are we always looking for that one more thing that will make life happy?  All I need is a better job, a bigger house, to pay off the bills, to lose a little weight and then life will be great.  Then after those things have been achieved they pale in comparison to the next big thing.  We want comfort, peace, love and to enjoy life but more often than not our days are filled with discomfort, arguments, hurt and difficult situations.



Can I just share with you some of my former distorted visions of how life will unfold?  Nearly two years ago I joyfully became a stay at home mom to three amazing kids under the age of seven.  I envisioned finally being able to keep the house clean, cook all of our food from scratch, finish up those baby books (yes, all three!), knit sweaters for the entire family...well, you get the point.  I'll give my other veteran SAHM buddies a chance to pick themselves up off the floor and dry their tears of laughter now.  Fast forward to today and I call it a success if you can walk to the couch without stepping on toys and we eat all three of our meals at home.  Don't you dare ask about the baby books and the sweaters.  Maybe some of you can relate, or maybe I am just not cut out for this super-mom thing.

So why the disconnect?  Are our hearts and minds just not cut out for life in this world?  I believe that they were not.  We were designed for a place that none of us here on earth have ever seen.  Our hearts yearn for the happy ending because that is where God invites us to dwell after our days on earth are used up.  So what ARE we doing here anyway??  


"That's not a couch around your neck."  It was in reference to the common practice among Christians of wearing a cross necklace and how often times we do this without really thinking about what it means.  The cross was originally an instrument of torture and death, the closest comparison that I can actually fathom is an electric chair.  *cringe*  But to Christians it represents something so much more.  Our gateway to freedom from death and sin, hope, God's great love for us, our security in Christ.  That doesn't even begin to fully describe it, but friends the symbol of the cross should also remind us that Jesus spent much of his adult life on earth suffering in one way or another.  As an adult he didn't really have a permanent home, he probably didn't have much in the way of belongings besides the clothes on his back, his closest friends didn't understand him until after he died and he was persecuted and died because of his beliefs.  In our culture that life is basically akin to a homeless person.  We have no evidence that Jesus complained of this lifestyle and I daresay he didn't spend much time sitting on a couch.  If you profess to be a Christian, this is your example.  As believers we will endure suffering of one kind or another, it is a part of life as sure as breathing.  We don't get a choice in whether suffering will come our way, we can only choose how we will respond to it.  In my own experience (which is admittedly limited) difficult times make us so much more grateful for the good things in life.  Even when I see someone else hurting or struggling I am reminded how precious life really is and that so many of our daily problems are pretty trivial.  When we suffer well, when we turn to God and trust that He will honor our hurt and pain, our struggles cause us to stretch and grow beyond what we ever thought we were capable of.  The cross reminds us that suffering and struggling can produce something so much more than a life spent on comfy couches.