What is Important

I was coming back from my brother’s place this evening after going there to use his router on a piece of plywood. He lives in the Valley Center area, about 12 miles from where we live. It’s a rather good drive up there and back, taking about 20 minutes in decent traffic.

I was thinking, in the darkness of the cab of the pickup, of where we were a year ago at this time. As you may recall, we were staying with my brother in their home because we lost our positions at the children’s home where we lived and worked. We had no house to go to, no place to call home, and had to find something quickly. We packed our things and moved them into my brother’s big shed, then occupied a 12 foot by 12 foot bedroom in their home for four months until we found work and a place to live. During that time, we took unemployment, got ourselves back together, enjoyed the safety and warmth of a home, looked for work, and made plans for the future.

Of course much has changed in a short time. I haven’t a clue how or why things happened (and continue to happen) to us as they did, but came away from that experience with a renewed sense of what is truly important and what is not.

Family is important.
Faith is important.
Things are not important.
Encouragement is important.
Self-motivation is important.
Appearances are not important.
Church is important.
Maintaining some semblance of normal living is important.
Being first (# 1, primo, or however you want to say it) is not important.

Other important things might be:

Being gracious, thankful receivers of help.
Being as useful as possible in whatever circumstance.
Continuing cultivating relationships with family and friends.
Sharing.
Continuing to give.
Willingness to serve.

Some things to lose all together, especially during times like that are:

Pride
Selfishness
Pity
Revenge/Payback
Complaining
Sense of entitlement
Laziness

Some list, huh? Take a look at them and decide what you need to work on BEFORE you find yourself in some kind of predicament.