One thing I missed a lot during the 2020 shutdown was going to the movie theater. It’s fun to watch a good movie and get so immersed in it that I forget about the outside world for a couple of hours. Nothing else matters except for what is going on in the moment. While it’s nice to forget about the problems of the world, we can’t let ourselves lose focus and forget about what’s really important.
Life can be distracting! Not only do we have to devote time to our job, family life, social life, and to ourselves, we also have other noise from sources like the news and social media. We get to the end of the week and realize that we forgot to include any time for God. Maybe we didn’t forget, but we just can’t seem to squeeze in any time for prayer, contemplation, and praise.
Let’s face it, going to church and taking time for prayer aren’t the most exciting things to do for most of us. That’s maybe why we prioritize doing activities that we find to be more interesting and fun. It’s rewarding to improve our golf game or fix something in our home. It’s relaxing to go on a vacation and see lots of new and interesting things. Many of these activities allow us to escape reality, but if all we do are things to escape reality, we can get stuck in a false reality where what we want to do takes precedence over what God wants us to do. We need to always stay close to our Father. When life gets tough and we need direction, we can easily get lost if we don’t know who to turn to.
There are many things that can snap us back to reality quickly. The loss of a loved one or the loss of a job are both jarring moments in life. The decline in our health or the health of a loved one are also life altering. Many things can drastically alter our lives and we need a good foundation to stand on when our lives start crumbling around us.
Jesus tells us to not let our hearts be troubled. Don’t let the problems in life distract us from our path to Heaven because Jesus has prepared a place for all of us in Heaven. I sometimes get nervous when I commute to work on an airplane because I have to fly standby and am not guaranteed a seat. However, in regards to Heaven, Jesus has a seat reserved for all of us. We just have to make sure that we don’t get distracted and make it to the plane in time.
While it’s ok to escape from reality periodically, we need to always be grounded in our faith. When we get our priorities out of wack and become people of the world, the bad things that life throws at us can seriously hurt or destroy us. However, when we have a strong faith and realize that we are all on a journey to a place that has specifically been prepared for us in Heaven, the pains of life are much more bearable.
God loves each of us. He wants us all to be happy in this life, but even more so, He wants us to be happy for all eternity. Don’t just drift through life doing only what you want to do. Don’t ignore the bad parts of life, but instead try to make a difference for the better. When we get to the end of our lives, may we be able to see the difference we made and be welcomed into our Heavenly dwelling place.
