Future or present?

I remember having two desk calendars full of quotes from Lisa McInnes-Smith. One of these had nuggets of wisdom for marriage, the other was for me personally. Some of them resonated with me a lot over the years. One of them was of a walrus who had mistakenly found his mate. Unfortunately, it was a cut out of a female walrus with an Eskimo brandishing a spear behind the fake female. The title was equally telling "Don't sacrifice your future on the altar of the immediate".

With the news that Japan had closed its borders once more and the job front looking equally bleak, God reminded me what I was building in the long-term. Was my drive to serve someone else in a hectic job my dream or following faithfully in the missionary calling? Would all the cash in the world make things better, rather than trusting God to find the best solution? Now I know there are good arguments for both, but the one thing God also reminds me is "How much do you really want to serve me on the field?".

While it might not be a mission calling you have, exchange it for something that means a great deal to you and God is speaking into your life. If that is you, then perhaps in this season where things are all topsy-turvy, it is a time to reflect on what matters most. Instant gratification is just that, instant. But here's the catch, it flies away, much like money. Investing on what is going to impact in the long-term, has more value in God's eyes than any temporary thing we have today. It is definitely worth thinking about.