Wanting instead of experiencing

   Have you ever focused on all you want, instead of all you have?  If you say no that is okay, but I am choosing to say yes.  It might come in the form of the if only's, you know if only we (or I) had this...... It might come in the form of whys, Why do so and so have so much and we do not.  It could come in the form of I'll do it myself since God is not blessing me (us).  The list is long and the wants are many.  What I have found while God blesses us daily we can miss them all looking at, focusing and wanting more.  
   When I focus on the stuff, the unimportant stuff, the worldly stuff, I find myself begrudging my family.  The very selfish me stuff, clothes, bigger and better house, nicer car, a yard, a garden, a new kitchen, to be skinner, blah, blah, blah.  Want, want, want.
        What about all the things I have, beautiful children, a wonderful husband, the gift of life daily, the joy that comes with discoveries or learning something new. Laughter, love, Christ centered life and home.  The ability to walk down the street while my children ride their bikes.  Coffee at sunrise with my husband after we have ran together.  Life is so rich when you stop to see the wealth God has bestowed on you. 
     It is when I or you might stop focusing on the richness of Christ and the wealth the world has to offer that we stumble.  It is when you might realize you are completely poor or lacking something everyone has in abundance that joy is squelched completely.  When you worry about tomorrow when today has not even started.  Not be able to take your parents every where you want to when they visit.  Instead of the gift of time, the gift of love, the gift of memories that last a life time.  It is not the quantity of life it is the quality of it. 
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, the body more important than clothes?" Matthew 6:25
   I admit I struggle with this passage, because it is so very, very easy to worry about the stuff God tells you not to.  It is so very easy to want more than you need, to be caught up in the latest fashions, restaurants, homes, decor, you get the picture.  It is so very easy to miss life's defining moments, when you look past them.  When I focus on me instead of God.  I miss out, I am ugly to loved ones, I am a selfish women.
   I am so thankful for all God renews each day, all He states here try again I love you.  I am learning that the richness of God and a God centered life is for more abundant than I deserve.  It is something to cherish and not grumble about.  In the end God's promise in the rest of Matthew:
   "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Matthew 6: 26-27.
    Is complete truth, he loves you and is faithful to those who are faithful, my family's every need will be met.  Step out in faith and experience today.