I say, let's live

I recently watched an award's speech that Ashton Kutcher gave to a bunch of kids at the Teen Choice awards where he quoted Steve Jobs saying something to the effect that we are all living in a world that other people created. 

It's true. Too often we accept things the way they are because that's just the way things are. We don't have to do that. 

We can choose the way we want to live; the way we want to feel; the way we want to celebrate; the way we want our lives to be lived out. 

I started thinking about this last night when we sat around the table for dinner for the 1st time in a week. So much of the world is in go mode all the time. Go here; run there; do this; do that. I know that as my kids get more involved in extra curricular activities, we may not have as much time to sit around the table. It seems like dinner on the go is the norm for our society. 

Who ever said that was okay? There are things that I'm starting to see and feel as my kids get older that are so status quo, that I don't want to be part of my world. I want margin in my life. I want wiggle room. I do not want to be over scheduled or over worked, and I definitely don't want that for my kids. 

We are living in a culture that someone else created, and most of us are just going with it. 

I don't want that hustle bustle life style. I want my family. I know that things are naturally going to change as my kids get older. I just don't want to go along with everything that everyone else is doing because everyone else is doing it. What kind of life is that? And whose life is that? 

I want to cook and laugh and read....giggle and tickle. I want to study and write and pray. I want to run and give and serve. 

We live in a world where it's normal to not get a full night's sleep. We don't have time to sleep. Where on earth is the time we have to give or serve. 

When did this happen? And why are we okay with it? I mean, let's be real. Does your life look the way you want it to look? If not, why? Have we become so obsessed with getting and having and keeping up with the Jones' that we don't even know what we really want anymore? 

It seems that way. 

I want margin. I want space. I want freedom to do the things I love and not feel guilty about doing them. I don't want to be measured by what I have or where I live or what extra curricular activities my kids excel in. I want to be measured by how I give and how I serve and how I love. 

The older I get, the more I don't like this world. I don't like the way the devil has deceived us. I don't like how we have been so easily fooled. 

What about living? Are we doing that? And if not, why not? Because other people said this is what life looks like? Over scheduled; under paid; lacking passion and drive and just trying to get by. That's not life. And if it is, that's not any kind of life I want to be a part of. 

So today, I decided to do things my way. Today I stopped caring about what other people thought. And I'm going to start questioning everything. I don't have to accept things just because that's the way they've always been. 

I say, let's live.  Sounds more fun that way.