Brownie Batter Blizzard & Leap Year Weekend

I may finally be completing my application for Heart's Home, as I just finished watching Leap Year on my laptop and am indulging in the rest of my Brownie Batter Blizzard (it's the small things that bring joy--and motivation!).

I submitted the application for the Salesian Lay Missioners over a week ago. As their deadline is months past Heart's Home, I will put that on hold until I figure out this Numero Uno option.

Heart's Home has been on my mind since I re-encountered them last month--almost daily. I am drawn to their mission and that there is no grandeur or noble project to be completed.  I want to be a part of that simplicity. In my correspondence with past volunteers and in my conversation with Sister Regine, I feel I have a chance to encounter Christ in a more real way than ever before in my life.

Once I submit my application and receive confirmation on all of my recommendations being received, I will be able to attend a Come and See weekend. I am hoping to attend at the end of October, in Brooklyn, NY. If I am accepted and continue to discern this is the one, I hope to be ready to leave come Spring!

It's really quite crazy as I ponder all that has been going through my mind in this process. I find it so difficult to decipher what the point of this life is. That may sound really deep and cliche, but it's true!

What is the point...?

God placed us all in this place. This city or town. This nation. This planet. This family. We attended certain schools. Traveled different places. Met certain people. Earn so much money. Have specific talents and gifts.

Well, it's all for Him, right? I mean, that's what we believe as Christians. This life is lived to reach Heaven? Eternal Life with our Creator?

So, I don't get it.

Why get the degrees, the laptops, the Blizzards? Why have the cars, the iPods, the cell phones, the clothes, the things... Why do we build up these lives if in the end it is about ETERNITY?

What do these things have to do with Life Everlasting and the Creator of all things seen and unseen who is deeply and madly in love with each of us, His perfect, most wonderful and beautiful creation!?

Does it seem odd to you? I don't know... I mean, read Scripture, right? The life of Christ, whom we are to follow, was so simple. Just the clothes on your back... Walking from place to place... Eating and drinking what you stumble upon by the grace of God--or that which has been transformed by a miracle from His own hands :)

But, a lot of that was made possible by the people who have the stuff. Where would Jesus have stayed if no one had a home for Him, or food prepared, or a donkey to ride?

Soooo, it must follow that there is a point to having stuff, to living a life in the world. I just don't understand the whole idea of "to live in the world, and not be of the world".

I feel like I'm bipolar or schizophrenic at times: I love watching a movie and eating some DQ. But at the same time, a piece of me wants to quit the suburbs and move into the shacks to live with nothing.
Okay, that second part is rare. But I do feel called to go there for some time...

I will say something dangerous: Eliminating material poverty is impossible in this world. War is inevitable. Corruption will always exist. Economic disparity will always be around. Injustice has no end... in this world. I'm not saying there is no hope--there is. But humanity is broken. We all have a tendency within us to deviate from the good.

Yes, one person can indeed make a difference.
Yes, we can work in our families and communities to promote the good.
For yes, good will triumph in the end! Good can and will prevail.

But... We don't live in some movie where the evil is vanquished by Iron Man (though I do love that movie). The only movies that have that part correct are the ones depicting a super-human power being the one stomping out the evil. For it indeed takes a super-human power to do so. Humans can't.

That doesn't mean we don't work towards it--but it does mean we must acknowledge our dependence upon some-One higher than us. For without a greater power, it is impossible! As human beings, we do not have the power to change a person's heart or mind. We can't make decisions for people.

We can help to form them--go Mothers! and Fathers and Teachers and Coaches and Trustworthy friends and Honest, hard-working people with values and ethics!

If is was completely impossible whatsoever, we would have no purpose in our individual lives. Thus there is a purpose in the lives we lead.
But it seems obvious the purpose then in our lives has to do with relationships--conversations, exemplary lives, modeling behavior to young people, valuing ethics and morals.

So why don't we focus on relationships? Not just in the sense of dating. But in friendships, families, local communities... That's where a life lived well makes a difference. Even an honest businessman has a purpose in this sense. Yes, the other things and possessions could then follow--but it's the possessions that must follow a life lived well. A life lived well does not come after possessions and promotions and bragging rights to the best party or story.

But where's the line?

We all have a place in this world. We are called to help one another on the journey--for it is, indeed, a journey. A passage from one place to the next. A place to learn and grow--hopefully closer to our Creator and Lover.

I suppose at times it just seems dang mind boggling. Perhaps it is because the desire on my heart is weird and unclear at times. The desire on my heart is about people. It is about Christ within people. I want to know where Christ is relevant to a person, even a person who doesn't know or care about Christ.

I can't stand thinking of my life ending without having had a purpose--one larger than some lofty dreams of money making idea that makes my life easy; one larger than numerous letters behind my name with all sorts of accomplishments; one larger than bragging that I traveled to all seven continents. If I have any of that, I just hope I have a purpose that came before those other things.

From whence does a "purpose" come? I believe it has been designed by the One who made me. He has written something on my heart which is awakening right now as a desire to go overseas to just be a presence among the neglected. If Christ is in each person, than why shouldn't I go where He is most neglected?! That is where I WANT to be! I want to show Him joy. I want to thank Him. I want to shower Him with love. I want to feed Him, clothe Him, care for Him, give Him my life. I want to adore Him. I want to lift His frown into a smile again. I want to just be with Him.

That sounds like a pretty good "purpose" to me... At least one I can be happy and at peace with for awhile :) 
It is definitely one I look forward to this year. I'm sure this year will grant me more insight... Maybe prove me wrong. Maybe hone my outlook on the world. Maybe it will set me in a new direction. Maybe refine my philosophy on life. I'm sure it will do something to open my eyes.