Keeping it Real

I recently had the privilege and joy of celebrating my son's wedding to the love of his life. It was the first time in many years that our family was all together in one place, complete with grandkids and our dear neighbor who has been as part of the family since we moved to Casey County.  This is real.  It is not a story in your feed.  What do I mean?  Many today are so engrossed with their social networks, in their presentation of themselves, or rather the image of themselves that they want to present, that they miss out on the truly good, and real things in life: Family, brothers, sisters, neighbors, friends.  These are the true riches of life, and moments like these cannot be experienced from the comfort of your living room, or office.  These are the things that matter, things that cannot be artificially generated or virtually experienced.

People used to say things like, "How can you afford having 10 children?  Of course they don't say it much anymore because we only have 3 left at home.  By the Grace of God I guess. No we didn't drive new cars, or live in a fancy house with lots of nice things.  We kept the thrift stores in business. We didn't go out to eat much. We cooked meals from scratch rather than out of a box. We worked hard.  We still work hard. We do so willingly because we know what we are working for.  The payoff is way better than a 6 figure income.

I think what many people don't get is that life is not about your career, or job, or the number of "likes" and followers.  We embark on careers, we work jobs, in order to sustain our family and not the other way around. Your family, your real, face to face, human relationships with your spouse and children, your neighbors, your church family, these matter.  These bring Christ Jesus to us. We love and serve Christ in as much as we love and serve them.  Then, when our eyes are fully open, and our vision clear, we see Jesus in them, and we catch a glimpse of eternity.