Lent- Day 12: Trashed teddies and trust.

I snapped the picture above while out running errands this afternoon. I spotted what Zoe calls “The sad teddy bear on the ice” set out for trash. Filthy, wet and torn, I felt sad looking at it. Zoe had brought her stuffed Curious George along for the outing, and I couldn’t help but compare the two. George, clean and dry in Zoe’s arms, her favorite since Christmas, very much loved. I wondered if that bear was once some other little girl’s beloved cuddly friend… now discarded.

I spoke to my good friend Kandi who lives overseas a few hours later via video call, catching up on family, career, and Zoe. She talked over the past decade of her life which has seen her move 12 (!) times, change jobs,  live in two different states, different countries, travel the world, and marry. A number of times she has wondered how she’d go on- laid off, owing thousands in school loans and having her heartbroken in a failed relationship. But in every situation, God always made a way. Actually, not just a way, but the best way. 

In order for Kandi to enter into all these new things, she had to let go into the old. “I had to give God control… the less Candace, the more God.”

After our call ended, I thought about that trashed teddy. In so many ways, people, in the pursuit of money, possessions and power, order their lives around jobs… jobs that often times make them miserable. They let their marriages, kids, friendships, spiritual lives all get sidelined chasing paychecks. I’ve heard friends say, “I’ll relax when I retire,” despite suffering a laundry list of physical ailments.

I have to wonder: is it all worth it? As awful as this sounds, to far too many companies, employees are like that teddy. Used, then discarded. 

“I know on the outside, I don’t have much. But I have a husband, my health, a roof over my head, clothes on my back… God has given me much more than I could have imagined.” 

Reflection for the day: For what (or who) are you living?