So If I Had To Go To Jail....

"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”   ... Hebrews 13:5

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Oh my goodness. I've never loved a room as much as my closet room. Not a room of mine, anyway. It's tiny, has no windows and I've gotta watch my head, but I love to sit on the floor and read and every night I anticipate stepping in there to crawl (pretty much literally) into my own homemade bed. 

Recently I even moved my little (prehistoric) tv across from the doorway where I can watch from my pillow until I drift off to sleep. I keep the remote inside the second drawer of that tiny blue dresser and it's all a nice, convenient set-up.

Anyway, lately I've been thinking about that Bible verse which says:


"God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few"   ... Ecclesiastes 5:2 ...


... except that I've been switching it to, "Let your wants be few." I'm thinking God wouldn't be too upset about that change, right? 

And sometimes I picture a jail cell and ask myself, "Could I live in prison contentedly if my room had this same striped wallpaper?" (Probably they'd not be real keen on me hanging whole rolls of wallpaper, but maybe you all could be wonderful and send me self-adhesive squares of it in snail mail. Pretty please?)

Then all I'd need would be a lamp, a mirror and a tiny dresser (or shelves) with a stack of special books** and I'd be all set.

:)

Hey, I enjoy mental challenges like this one and being brutally honest with myself: Could I truly be content in such surroundings? Especially if I had to share a cell? (Hmm... the introvert in me wonders.) And ok, we're talking prison here, which has its hundreds of unique challenges, of course.

But the main thing is this: Am I, daily, developing my inner life? Making it better, deeper, brighter? More creative-minded? More filled with God, His word, His richness in character, love and goodness? Am I really preparing myself for anything that may lay ahead, any changes I must make in living arrangements/relationships/possible physical limitations?

Or would all of those come upon me, suddenly, like a terrible shock, finding me unready to face them because I'd relied on Outside Life far more than Inside Life? Would somebody, someday, have to pry stuff and things from my cold, dead hands?

The older I become, the more I'm finding that developing my inner life is one huge, worthy pursuit, one which leads to fewer wants of worldly things and more desire for that which can never be taken away.

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"Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me"   ... Psalm 42:7

"But godliness with contentment is great gain."   ... 1 Timothy 6:6

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**Which 10 books would I want beside me in prison (or on a deserted island or in a convalescent home room)? Try not to laugh, but they are these:


The Bible
Gone Away Lake
Return to Gone Away
Thoughts of Home
Sleeping at the Starlite Motel
Mama Makes Up Her Mind
Anybody Can Do Anything
The Plague and I
Mary Emma and Company
Chicken Every Sunday


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Oh! I believe I shared this song here years ago, but I heard it again today and was reminded how very much I loove it ...




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It's good to hit the pause button in Life sometimes and ask ourselves important questions about where we want to go and are we still headed there? Or have we wandered ....?