Aspiring Thoughts
as.pi.ra.tion:
a strong desire to achieve something high or great
synonym: see AMBITION,
an ardent desire for rank, fame, or power
I’ve been thinking about aspirations lately. What do I aspire to be? Who do I aspire to be like? Is it better to have aspirations than ambitions?
It seems to me that based on the above Webster definition, it’s O.K. for me to aspire to achieve. I want to achieve things for God like share the Gospel, plant seeds with others, do good works. On the other hand, my understanding is that maybe ambition is for my good, not His.
I read recently about a blind beggar on the streets of Brazil. A Christian man that stopped to give the man some money decided to spend a few minutes with the gent and find out about him. It turns out that the 30ish man was blinded by an accident in his teens, lives with a family of seven brothers in a one room shack and begs for enough money to eat each day. I’m thinking that this guy is sure that he got dealt a bad hand, probably sits there all day and wonders why this didn’t happen to someone else. But I have those thoughts because I’m seeing this through my fogged up, shallow vision. You see, this man contends that the reason he got dealt the hand that he did is because God knew he could handle it. Guess what? He doesn’t sit looking sad on the streets and beg for money. He sings joyful songs all day long and people place their “payment” for his performance in his cup. Joyful songs because he knows that true joy has nothing to do with sights and material possessions. This man knows that joy comes from knowing God. “The joy of the Lord is my strength” - what an example.
That’s the guy I want to be. I’d rather go to my grave as a content beggar on the street than an overpaid airline pilot still looking for contentment and falling short of where God wants my heart. Can I combine the two lives? The most content people I know, or have heard of, have the least. Maybe it’s not who I aspire to be that matters, but the heart I aspire to have. I feel like I’m a long way off.
— kati Feb 9, 05:28 AM #