The Bubble

I live in a bubble.  It's a magically beautiful place in suburbia full of middle and upper class people that work very hard, keep up with all the latest trends deemed important by every magazine and seem to have captured the American Dream. By all appearances, it would be the modern day fairytale kingdom where every princess wants to find her prince and live happily ever after. 

I sort of did that.  In the land of families, I found my single handsome prince who swept me off my feet (mainly because when we met I had one leg in a big purple cast), and we have lived happily since then in our small little patio home kingdom in the back of the woods. 

I moved here because it was the best place to train.  My prince moved here because it was a great place to coach.  We stayed because it's beautiful, has everything we need within a 10 minute commute, and seems to be this safe little place that everyone refers to as "The Bubble" because no one ever really travels outside of it.  There's just no need to.

But what I'm beginning to discover in my magical bubble land is that I have trapped myself with empty distractions, meaningless things to do, and some very backwards priorities.  I've just really noticed lately that all around me people are doing the same thing and we just don't seem to realize it.  It's time for us to wake up and pop our bubble.

One of the reasons I like my bubble is that I feel safe in it.  But feeling safe and secure tucked away inside my comfort zone is the opposite of stepping out and trusting God.  When we sit still in our pretend security, we become stagnant and stop growing.

Another reason I have liked my bubble is that I seem to have endless entertainment.  But I'm tired of wasting the precious minutes of this one life I have been given to be entertained.  I want to serve.  I've volunteered a ton and helped a lot of people out, but if I'm truly honest with myself, it has not been with a servant's heart.  It's been with a heart wanting to hear praise for my efforts and feel good about myself.  I'm so tired of my own pride and vanity.  I'm ready to serve so people praise God!  (Matthew 5:16)

Along with endless entertainment, in my bubble I can always find something to do and keep me occupied.  These things easily suck me in, and then I begin to make them my priorities.  They may look good on the surface, but when you break it down, they are often empty and truly meaningless. 

God loved me while I was still His enemy.  He died intentionally to pay a debt I could never pay on my own and to top that off, when I accept this amazing gift of grace, I have a place in eternity with Him.  How can anything, no matter how good it looks here with our earthly goggles on, come even close to that?  Why do we care so much about keeping up with the Joneses when they can't buy us a ticket to heaven?  Why aren't we sharing this great news with the Joneses?

These are just a few of the reasons that I'm ready to pop my bubble.  I'm ready to live a life full of true glory; not pretend, trendy, earthly glory that fades every 15 minutes and requires you to continually live up to some random person in the media's standards of greatness.  I'm ready to live a life that center's around an unchanging God who's love knows no bounds and Who has written the greatest love story in history specifically for each one of us.  There is truly no match for happily ever after in heaven with our Savior.