Print or Email

TheDiscipleMD

“There once was a young boy who lived with his loving family near the top of a mountain that overlooked a beautiful canyon. Across the canyon, near the top of another mountain, the boy could see a beautiful home whose windows shone like gold. From his home, the boy dreamed of how wonderful it would be to live in such a home. He told his parents that he wanted to move to that house, but, of course, they could not. For a long time, the boy thought about how joyful it would be to live in it. One night, he decided to hike to the dream house that was on the other side of the canyon. He got up early the next morning, packed a lunch, and set out for his destination. It took the boy almost all day to hike down the mountain, across the canyon, and up the other mountain. As he neared his “dream” home, the sun was now setting in the west. He looked back across the canyon and was surprised to see a home on his mountain that had “golden” windows. There were no homes with “golden” windows on his mountain, he thought. He strained to see! He was surprised to find that it was his home. The sun’s rays had set on his house and it, too, now had windows of” gold.”

My experience over the years has been that there are many of us who go through life always looking at what others have. We never seem to realize the beauty of the simple blessings that are in our own home and life. It is easy to become envious of others. We live in a culture that promotes it! It is constantly telling us we need more. We need bigger, better and that somehow we are lacking if we don’t have the newest gadget on the market. We are bombarded on all fronts with images that tell us that we need to look a certain way, dress a certain way, and act a certain way. With time, we can become convinced that we are lacking and that, if only we lived in the house with the “golden windows”, things would be wonderful. The world in which we live even creates a mentality that we are entitled to such material things. This envy creates anger, bitterness, hate and depression. There is an Old Danish proverb, which says, “If envy were a fever, all the world would be ill.”

Comforting are the words of one of the Lord’s anointed who recently proclaimed: “I testify that no one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. I testify that He loves each of us—insecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all. He doesn’t measure our talents or our looks. He doesn’t measure our professions or our possessions. He cheers on every runner, calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other. I know that if we will be faithful, there is a perfectly tailored robe of righteousness ready and waiting for everyone, “robes … made … white in the blood of the Lamb.” May we encourage each other in our effort to win that prize is my earnest prayer.” (“The Other Prodigal”, Jeffrey R. Holland, GC, April 2002).