Praying the Names of God

I am reading again through a book called Praying the Names of God written by Ann Spangler.  This week I am on El Olam (the everlasting/eternal God).  With that in mind, last night I was especially challenged by Spangler's reminder this week to "confess our tendencies to live as though this world is all there is."  Hmmm.  What an interesting way to put it - a tendency to live as though this world is all there is.  What does that look like exactly, I wondered?  I think for me it looks like any of the following: my selfishness, my impatience, my judgements, my fears, my desire to be satisfied, my control of things.  They are all just expressions/extensions of that very thing - a tendency to live as though this world is all there is.  As though my good things come now and are for me.  Silly me.

By the end of this same day's entry, Spangler offers a way to approach this problem or to perceive the challenge:

Perhaps the challenge is not only to believe that those who belong to Jesus are destined for heaven but to live in a way that expresses heaven as your deepest longing, your true home.

Being aware of heaven as my deepest longing would look like this on me - generosity, energy, peace, contentment, joy, gentleness, and patience.   And my word, don't those things sound so much better than my way, my attitude, my voice, my indulgences, my convenience, my whatever.  Ick.  No thanks.

Thank you, Lord, for the reminder to live with an eternal and heavenly perspective.