What are our lives about?

I'm reading this great book by John and Stasi Eldredge called Love & War. ANYONE who is married--this is a MUST read for you. And single folks--there is no reason to pass this one up; it is so full of shockingly simple truth and beauty. In chapter 7, A Shared Adventure, they challenge us to think about what fills our lives, what are our weekly routines?


"If you have been married for more than a year or two, you have probably fallen into a routine by now. She gets up at 6am; he gets up at 6:45am. She starts the coffee; he typically skips breakfast; Tuesday night you watch "your show"; Wednesday night you pay the bills; Friday night you rent a movie; Saturday you do chores; Sunday night you call your folks....You go to bed at the same time every night. You use the same shampoo and the same toothpaste for years. You get your socks from the same drawer you have been getting them for thirty years. You eat the same kind of bread and the same kind of spaghetti sauce...And then you end up surprised by the agitation and irritation of cabin fever in your marriage. It is certainly the precursor to an affair, or an addiction. This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home, this little piggy ate roast beef and this little piggy went postal because this is exactly what the piggies have always done every day for the last forty-seven years."




They challenge me to want more than "making a comfortable home or life." Isn't that what we all want and think about A LOT? We waste days, week and years dreaming about a bigger house, a freshly painted kitchen, the day we can install a swimming pool and the year we pay off our school loans.
But Christ says, "do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not LIFE more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor...For the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek His kingdom first and His righteousness and then these things will be given to you as well."


Wow, this sounds so simple, and yet is so difficult to put into practice. I believe too many of us don't think its referring to our own bad habits or that it is just poetic words of wisdom not really intended to be taken literally. Scott and I are SO anxious to get OUT of Boston and do some "real living," i.e. buy some property, work for ourselves, pay down school, take vacations, have a couple of kids, etc... Now, we are very lucky because we have not gotten bogged down in boring routine, as John and Stasi describe in this chapter. We actually have anything BUT routine...But in the book, they challenge us to find the mission in your marriage. What are the two of you called to together? Our hearts are made to live a life that matters, a life of epic significance. Finding THAT is real living.

What are some of your goals that are actually worth dreaming about? What are some adventurous activities you purposely plan so as not to have a boring existence?