I saw a friend at church today that I hadn't seen for a few weeks. I asked her how she had been and if everything was ok. Instead of giving me the old trite response of "Oh, I've been around. Staying busy, but everything's fine", she gave me a real answer. She said she just needed time alone and sometime to think about what she really wanted. She compared her situation to our ritual after church going out to lunch. We all get together and somebody picks a place. You don't actually want to eat at that place, but you don't know where you do want to eat. So you go along with everyone else. She said that's what she felt her whole life was like right now. So she's just trying to take some time to reconnect with herself and figure out what she does want. I applaud my friend for two reasons. (1) Having the sense to be aware of her disatisfaction and try to do something about it. (2) Having the guts to really give an honest answer to a question that is so easily not even thought twice about.
So this gets me thinking. Alot of us find ourselves in similar situations, where we are not content. But instead of taking the time to figure out what we do really want, we just try to conform to those around us. We try to want the same things that our friends want. Why do we do that? Is it a desire to feel connected to others in some way? Is it laziness, making us too sluggish to try figure out our own way of doing things? Is it fear of condemnation? Why? I also was inspried to search my own heart and see if I could find any areas of my life where I am just settling for the status quo. It's a good question for us all to ask ourselves.