Things Change...

So I'm on Facebook (a lot) and I still get a kick out of catching up with old friends from throughout my life. It's been wonderful to see what everyone has done, who they've married, how many kids they've had, etc. But it's not just the "old" friends that only come across my radar, it's friends who I've lost touch with in the last couple of years for whatever reason.

Tonight I got a message from one such friend. Our families used to be so close. We would hang out all of the time. Her husband practically lived with us when she would go out of town. We went to church together, were in small groups together and then ...we weren't. There was no fight, no big falling out, life just happened and time got away from us.

A few months ago I found out through a mutual friend that this family moved to like Central America - not as missionaries, just moved. Well, she contacted me about homeschooling and where to get curriculum and when I wrote back I was like "Wow! I can't believe that you made such a wild move!" They were a well-to-do family. He owned his own business, she had an internet business for a while, they lived in a beautiful house and bought a second one as an investment and rented it out. I have to admit, I was a bit envious of their life because while theirs kept getting better, ours stayed still or got worse.

When she wrote back, I was shocked. So shocked that I read it to Frank because he heard me gasping. They lost their businesses, they lost one of their homes to foreclosure and rented the other out for two years. They're living in a place that doesn't thrill them but they know that it is short-term. She didn't get in to WHY they chose to make this move but I was still blown away! I mean, we are struggling right now but we know that it is temporary. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

After I put her message aside it reminded me of why we, personally, never looked to have a lot of stuff; why it wasn't an ambition of ours. It's harder when you lose it. And most of us, at one time or another, will lose it. Growing up, we lived in the best houses in the neighborhood; my dad drove the newest and flashiest cars. But in the end, we had to sell those houses and get rid of those cars. My parents divorced, they were mean and bitter at times, we had to live in an apartment, my mom worked three jobs to support us...I mean, for all of the "stuff" we had, in the end, we had nothing. I never saw owning a home as the great American dream because it doesn't symbolize that for me. And if you watch the news during the last year or so, it wasn't a dream for millions of people who were being foreclosed on.

I guess the lesson here is to not envy anyone. You have no idea what God has planned for them - their successes, their failures, their joys, their struggles or the price they pay for them. I have to remember to keep my focus on my own family, my own home and be thankful for all that we have - even when it doesn't feel like a lot.