The American Dream...?

Sometimes  I get caught up in life and forget. I begin to look around and see all of the people, with all of the things. I begin to believe the host of the network is speaking truth. I begin to think that my faults are seen by everyone and if I could only be perfect - then, life would be too.

I have grown up in a middle class area of America my whole life. I forget what life is sometimes. I see what I see and follow what they say. Perfect is beautiful - not so perfect is not. Things will make it better and the more you have, the better your life will be....at least that is what they are telling me.

I sit here wondering...what about God?  Does He want perfect people to work with? Does He want me to collect all I can while here on earth?  This is what I am thinking...

When Jesus was on the earth - His best buddies smelled like fish and took a little extra cash on the job before meeting him. They never seemed to say the right things, and I did not read in any book of the Bible that they were Hebrew Top Models.They were ordinary, not perfect people. They did not have much according to the Israeli Times. They slept outside with Jesus many nights. They walked many miles without Louis Vuitton sandals and it even says they would eat as they traveled...Matthew 12:1 

I wonder why I always look around me and see what others have or what they do and decide who I am. I judge myself and sometimes others by the "American Dream". I need a nice car, nicer house and the best clothes in order to fit in. My body must look like an Olympic beach volleyball player if I want others to love me and think I am beautiful. I need many friends around me and we need to go out to many places so that many people will see that we are "cool". 

God loves each of us and I believe He is sad when He sees us believing the "American Dream" instead of God's Dream. He is sad that our lives revolve around things that will rust and be thrown away...instead of looking to God Himself for our happiness. It says in 1 John 4:8 that God is Love.  If you don't have love in your life right now... if you can't find the joy in your stuff anymore...look to God. He is waiting for us to look away from the mirror and the magazines and look for Him. He is there...when you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him. 

What do you think? Should we begin to live a life of freedom and love? Can we learn to stop listening to the voices of this world that tell us who we are and what we should attain? Will we seek God and find our true meaning in life...our true happiness? Paul writes to the Galatians in the Bible and asks, "am I trying to please God or man?"

I am still trying to learn this lesson of listening to the right voice. It is difficult to not follow what the world is telling us...it is all around us, showing us what happiness looks like. I do know, though, that when I listen to God and choose to follow Him rather than the American Dream, I find peace, happiness and the freedom to be who God created me to be...just me.