No More Wasted Wages

Three days ago I made the command decision to begin a blog.

Let me say from the start that my motives are mostly tied to a need for thought expulsion. Anyone who knows me well can testify to the fact that a lot goes on in my life, which leads to a lot being processed internally at any given time. I guess I just thought I could process easier if I put it into writing...my third favorite thing to do. When registering for this blog spot, I was asked to choose my own site address. Those same aforementioned people who know me well are thinking correctly right now that it took me FOREVER to think of what I wanted it to be. When I say forever, I really mean 10 minutes, but it feels like an eternity when sitting in front of a computer screen during a set-up process that is promised to "take seconds" for normal, not-so-contemplative people. After a few moments of coming up empty on my own, I pulled out the Word (a.k.a-The Holy Bible) & started flipping to the passages that I have marked with post-its hoping to be inspired in this small task. I stumbled on a few familiar verses that I had not read in a while from the book of Isaiah the prophet. They say:

"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy & eat.
Come, buy wine & milk without money and without cost.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
& your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, & eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance.
Incline your ear & come to Me.
Listen, that you may live;
& I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
According to the faithful mercies shown to David."
~ Isaiah 55:1-3

As a mostly visual learner, a picture immediately popped into my head. It was a surprising image. I saw the faces of the 21 freshman girls that I've spent most Sunday nights with for the last three years in fellowship & Word study. I saw them walking together in a big, mostly pink, group through the mall. They were laughing, smiling, carrying bags from their favorite stores, & drinking frappaccinos from the Starbucks in the food court. It looked so simple, harmless, & fun. I didn't understand why this image would match those words. Then I felt an overwhelming emptiness, a lot like defeat.

I realized for the first time that, though their lives have scarcely begun, they've already learned to enjoy waste, whether they realize it or not.

In this case it was money that they didn't earn, given to them to spend without restriction by their parents. They weren't doing anything wrong, but they weren't doing anything right either. It was a moment of wasted wages. Of money spent on shirts that wont be "cool" in a month, on drinks that will begin to melt and be thrown out before they're finished, on time in a place that's full of subliminal media messages telling them that satisfaction in life comes from the accumulation of more things. Things that will never satisfy their souls. Things that will briefly distract them from the abundance that God offers them when they bring all that they have to Him for His use in this world.
They are 14 & 15 years old, & they have decades to live differently. I want them to read, absorb, love, & live this scripture. The thought of them being protected by the warning in God's Word against a life that is spent seeking self-fulfillment is overwhelming to me...in a beautiful way.
I wish for our generation that we would begin living differently now, before more of our lives are wasted on things that are less than everlasting. After this thought process ran its course, I decided to name this blog site "No More Wasted Wages" & dedicate it to the hope that we will "incline our ears to hear" all that the Word of God has to teach us so "that we may live".