Now that Todd has a full-time job and we’re not living on pennies, I’ve found myself worshipping money. The first seven months of 2019 were painful, and just like a starving child with a plate full of food in front of her, it’s tempting to consume everything in sight. I go online and see advertisements of things I’m missing out on, things that will really make me happy and give me the life I deserve.
The other day I read this passage in Matthew 6: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth (the Greek word here is mammon which means money/wealth/possessions).”
Exhale.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m missing out on the good life because I’ve got an ordinary house, a regular job, a leaky kitchen faucet and reused clothes my mom gives me in a trash bag twice a year.
The World Famous Leaky Faucet
Sometimes I wonder if I should listen to the people who tell me to monetize my Instagram. It’s just business. But I don’t want business, I think. I want Kingdom.
Maybe they intersect?
Either way, I don’t want to worship money. If anything, 2019 taught me how quickly money comes then goes then comes again. The tighter my grip, the less I seem to have. The more open-handed I am, the more delighted I find myself with enough.
Smack dab in the middle of our financial crisis last year, I cried and told my (rich) friend, “Honestly, once we have a stable paycheck I’ll feel so much better.” She chuckled and said, “You’d be surprised. If you idolize money, you’ll never have enough.”
My heart knew she was right.
My mind went to that leaky kitchen faucet, you know the one I mentioned earlier. Something you need to know is it doesn’t steadily drip. It sort of flushes like a mini-toilet. Most importantly, it has terrible timing. When my Monday Night Life Group first started, it would flush in the middle of someone’e serious story and all of us would try to ignore it as to not derail the conversation but it was obvious…we were all thinking about the faucet. It would flush in the middle of a heated conversation. It would flush when I was trying to impress someone. It would flush in the middle of Instagram videos.
One Monday night, a gal in our group looked at me when it flushed and giggled. I blurted out, “He’s peeing!” We laughed, and every single time it flushed after that, we made eye contact and simultaneously said, “He’s peeing!” It became a joke and bizarre source of connection.
I wonder what it would look like to see all the leaky faucets in our lives as opportunities for connection rather than sources of discontentment. What if the leaky faucets in your life— the things that aren’t Instagram-perfect or quite right— are untapped resources of joy and creativity and relationship? What if they are yet-to-be miracles, vessels of water just itching to be turned into wine?
That perspective where the Kingdom is. It turns shame into joy. Water into wine. Less into abundance. Imperfection into grace. Mini-flushes into laughter and little into enough.
* FYI we fixed the leaky faucet in kitchen renovations last month and I sort of miss it. Oh, the irony.
Ps: If this helped you in any way, please feel free to share with your friends! I am so grateful and appreciate it!!