Luxury Properties

POD #30: 3 Luxury Properties

Location, Location, Location, that is what immediately comes to mind when I think of luxury properties.  My husband and I have been looking at vacation properties in Puerto Rico, with his long-term goal being to move there permanently.  I think that it is more vacation-itis because we went there last year and it was an amazing, relaxing time.  I am game with a few stipulations in place if it really should happen though.

I really want something that is oceanfront, or at minimum where I can hear the ocean and be within a short walk to the ocean.  However I also want to be out of the hurricane zone since he thinks we should stay there forever.  It’s funny that I would be much pickier with where I might sleep or vacation or even for a few decades of my life than I am with what I allow in the real estate of my life, my thoughts, my heart and to occupy my time.

My Head
The property of my head I picture with very clean lines and organized – almost industrial.  I can not stop thoughts from coming into my head, but I can choose what I meditate on regularly.  The scriptures are clear about what I should let my thoughts focus on in Philippians 4:8 it says “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

Yet so often I focus on the lies that have been spoken into my life.  I let those lies play over and over again in my life.  They not only vacation there, but they set a foundation and build giant buildings in my life where my mind tends to stay too long.  Or I play negative thoughts about others that are anything less than honorable and usually far from right.  I fixate on what I think others are doing wrong, and completely miss the blessing they are in my life.  I mix the thoughts that God has about me with my tainted views so that they are no longer pure.  I fill my mind with crime and mystery as I watch television instead of things that are lovely.  I focus on shortcomings instead of building on the admirable strengths in my life and in the lives of those around me.  I allow my mind to travel down inferior paths that lead to destruction.

I admit that over the past few years, I have allowed God to renew my mind and I am able to not take up residence when I do go down those more negative thought paths.  The journey is much shorter when I do head there.  I am not as negative as I used to be. I do try to believe in the best of people, even in doing this challenge I see the growth in my thought patterns more clearly.  I know I want to continue renewing my mind, and allowing God to show me deeper revelations of areas where I need to change.  I need to be open to allowing fresh insight to alter my set in thought patterns.

My heart
I picture the property of my heart with homey and with iridescent curtains blowing in the ocean breeze.  My heart is occupied with a deep compassion for people.  Although at times my mind goes down that negative path, my heart believes and expects the best of people.  My heart generally wins out.  God has given me a level of empathy that most people around me do not understand.  Not that I don’t have my limits, but even when misfortunes are of their own making, I can still enter into what they are experiencing and have a genuine desire to help them better the situation.

The Bible says in Matthew 6:19-21 Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.  Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. I can say that my treasure is people.  There are few things in my life that I hold as treasures outside of people, and the few things I do treasure are tied to memories of the people who had them before I did.  My heart is occupied with the people that have touched my life and whose lives I have been able to impact if even in the smallest way.

My prayer is that the capacity of my heart would continue to grow in love and compassion for others.  I pray that my heart would be open to continuing to see other’s with the eyes of Christ.  I pray that my heart would not be tainted by the atrocities that I am exposed to, but instead to stay pure and pliable to the Lord.

My calendar
The property of my calendar, tends to be less luxurious and more cluttered.  Not unsanitary or unclean, but the type of home with windmills, wind chimes, and lots of lawn ornaments and knickknacks.  Each has a significant meaning to the home owner or serves a purpose, but is a bit overwhelming to onlookers.  My calendar is full and often times I am over committed, but looking at my calendar there is little that I would take away from it.

This has been a big area of change in my life over the past decade, and even more so in the past few years.  I feel like God rearranged my priorities and I am finally focused on those areas that I should be.  Yes, there are still areas that I need to give more attention – like writing which this challenge has certainly helped me to do.  However, I can say that my priorities are in the right place now, and that I do have a defined plan for my schedule.  There is still areas where less structure would be helpful, but the things that are most important, the people who are important are getting the first place in my schedule instead of the leftovers of my time.  And I definitely take time for rest and me-time.

This Tara-Nicholle Nelson’s 30 Day Writing Challenge for Conscious Leaders has been a great way for me to think about the keys in various areas of my life that I need to unlock, and even a few areas where I not only need to lock the door, but I need to throw away the key.  It has been helpful to focus on what I know in life, and the direction I really want to steer my life.  It has reminded me, that my life is a luxury property that I need to take time invest in and enjoy.