Options

OPTION (n.)-alternative, choice, selection, decision, opportunity, preference, substitute

I don’t know about you, but where I live in Orange County, my world is filled with options. What a great word to describe my constant distraction from God. Options, and many of them great ones. So many wonderful friends to hang out with, but who will I choose today? Which friends am I going to put on my “top 8” on MySpace? And how do I balance being a single person and spending time with my family, friends, and dating? If I was into the online dating thing, which site should I choose out of eharmony.com, relationships.com, connectioncafe.com, etc.? And then when I do get some matches, which guy should I pick because I am sure I will like something about each of them. I mean, how many times does the Bachelor get stuck between falling in love with the last two women who make it on the show, an then he has to pick, and what if he picks the wrong one, how will he know?

If you don’t believe me on the excess of options we have, just go to your local coffee shop and try to order a regular coffee. That barely exists anymore. I mean, if I want to go see a movie, I first have to decide which of the ten movie theatres near my house I want to go to, which friends I want to go with me, then which of the twenty movies I want to watch and if one of the friends I choose to go with me doesn’t want to see that particular movie then I will have to pick another one. By the time that’s all figured out, I probably would have been much happier renting a movie and watching it home alone.

There are so many great books to read. I want to read them all so instead of starting and finishing one, I start twenty and can’t finish a single one. So many great things to get involved in at church, but I can’t realistically do all of the ones that sound good to me or else I would never have time to make a living. So many fun trips I could go on, but which ones do I choose? I just finally got an I-pod. Yes, I finally put the 8-track and cassettes behind me, no more scratched CD’s. The thing is, I usually just end up listening to the radio because there are over 2,200 songs loaded and I can never decide on what I want to hear because there are way too many songs to choose from. Wow, I’m getting stressed out even thinking about all the options available!

Sometimes it might actually be nice to be like The Narrator (Edward Norton’s character) in Fight Club and blow up my house with everything in it and start from scratch, maybe move into an abandoned structure, move to the Midwest somewhere and find a farm in the middle of nowhere and just be. When I lived in Africa for a little, life was so simple there, they were poor, very poor, but at the same time, besides food and clothing and being with family there wasn’t much else to worry about. No cell phones, lab-tops, cars, microwaves, electricity, etc. When was the last time that I just was? When was the last time I was able to sit with myself in the midst of this busy world all around me and not let my obsessive thoughts torment me because I couldn’t turn them off?

It’s funny because I am afraid to move from here because I somehow need to have options in my reach if I want them. What would realistically happen if I did move to a farm in the middle of nowhere, a small town where I couldn’t just swap one friend for the other if I got sick of that person or just simply outgrew them? What would happen if I didn’t have the option of going surfing and snowboarding in the same day if I wanted to (I don’t even snowboard, just get hurt trying, but I love surfing)? What would happen if I didn’t have the option of changing jobs whenever I wanted?

How it is possible to stay focused on God in the midst of so many other great options to choose from? So many great options that simply turn into distractions that keep me from the very sole purpose of why I was created, to worship Him and be in His presence. This world is robbing me of that very intimate time that the Lord wants to pour out and lavish His love upon me.

I can say “no.” Actually today is Sunday and I went to the morning service and have grown so accustomed to going to the evening service as well that sometimes I feel guilty when I don’t go because it has become such a routine in my life. Night service started ten minutes ago and I am not going, so there! I am realizing that on the Sabbath, it might be good to not wear myself out every week by going here and going there. When am I ever going to rest and how long until my body breaks down if I don’t chill out soon? Instead of crowding my Sunday with meetings after church and meeting friends and driving back and forth two times to church, I simply went to morning service, had lunch with one friend, came home and played a little guitar (which I haven’t done in like forever!), read a book (same timeline as playing the guitar), took a nap, and am writing (same timeline of never playing the guitar and reading). Those last three things I mentioned, minus the nap, are huge sources of refreshment and life for me yet time and time again they are robbed from me and it takes ditching night church and saying no to all that to get me to engage in my passion and make time to really be with God and develop the gifts He’s invested in me.

What is the enemy’s strategy in all of this and how are we to outsmart him and not get distracted from God and His purposes for our lives? For me it is really being honest and asking myself why I am doing what I am doing? What is the purpose behind the routines I do that fill my week? Do I really need to go to church and Bible Studies five times a week? Do I have any time carved out in my life for people who do not yet know Jesus? Here’s a sad piece of truth. I had two different work friends who text messaged me because they wanted to hang out and it took me about one month to go to coffee with one of them and the other I just haven’t quite made the time for. I also have someone I know coming out of Mormonism and who is desiring to know more about Christianity, but yet again I am too busy to make time for him. One girl I helped lead to the Lord about a year ago and I have been helping her along in her faith until the last few months. We both got too busy and now I have trouble even taking the time to call her to see how she is doing.

I do really love living here with the beautiful sunshiny days and all the great opportunities and at the same time I do struggle with letting all these great opportunities crowd my heart and distract it from beating in sync with the King. Just like how money is not the source of all evil (the love of money is), and can be a great resource for advancing God’s kingdom, I feel that all these options are not the enemy, but that Satan is really using these options and great opportunities and throwing too many at us everyday to try and distract us from God’s purposes. I wish I had a specific answer to overcome this present dilemma I face and where I know I am not alone, but I don’t. I do think it is important that we are aware that the enemy has a plan and that he is using the busyness in our lives and all the options around us to distract us right now. The question to ask is, what is he trying to distract us from? What great things is God stirring up that the enemy needs to distract us from? I think once we finally say “no” to all the options around us and say “yes” to spending some time worshipping Jesus and sitting at His feet, we will find our answer.