Thou Shalt Not Covet

Thou Shalt Not Covet:

One of the big ten, the Ten Commandments, you know from the bible.  The Christian ten, the holy ten, at least I hope you have heard of them.

I guess I didn't really understand what they meant until after my divorce.  I was still a Labor and Delivery Nurse and highly unsatisfied with everything in my life.  I could not figure out why I had nothing and everyone else had everything.  What I did not realize at the time was that I had everything and everyone else had nothing.  I just did not know it.

What do I mean that I thought everyone had everything and I had nothing?  I was focused on material things, houses, vacations, clothes and everything else.   What I did not see was the most precocious thing right in front of me.  My perfect daughter, My amazing family and a wonderful profession.

So, there was this colleague of mine.  She was blond, skinny, petite and seemed to have everything.  Everything I did not have.  She had a husband that adored her, a beautiful home and worked part-time.  She also had this purse.  I had never seen a purse like this.  It was a black coach purse, a bucket style.  I wanted it so bad I could taste it.  So shiny and black.  It was the perfect purse.  I thought what do I have to do to get a purse like that.

In my previous life I had never thought of having a designer purse.  I am not like that now.  I suppose I had not thought I was worth it nor elite enough in the hierarchy of women to be deemed worthy enough nor beautiful to own such a thing.

I know I am worthy now.  I am worthy of anything I deem I am worthy of.  However, this is not about that.  What this is about is how we covet.  I have changed.  Oh, I said that.  This purse made me covet in a way I had never coveted before.  I was obsessed.

What I learned in my trials and tribulations of life, love and everything else was that the more we want, the more we desire a thing over who we love or what is important in our world or lives makes us less.   I saw this big shiny purse and wanted it above so many other things that was important or relevant in my life.

What woke me up?  I finally had this one brief moment of clarity.  This moment involved my daughters beautiful face.  I finally got it.  BAM!!!

It was like fire from heaven.  God gave me something in a moment that I will never forget.  God gave me a gift.  He gave me this whisper.  He tickled in my ear with his words. He said, stop wanting.  Stop wanting things.  Give up wanting things or selfish desires and completely focus on the Lord and your only child.  Give your heart and soul to the Lord and all will be well.  OK?  I did that.  I gave my heart to the Lord 100%.  I trusted in him and gave my life to him with my whole heart.

What did I get?  I got a life of reward beyond imagination.  Showers of blessings that only Hollywood could show.  I would simply think of a desire and I would be given this wish.  I do not believe that asking God for things is appropriate.  I do my best to not wish for anything or desire anything for myself because this would be wrong in my world.  I simply want to be happy and give God all the glory in everything I earn, do, am given or say.  Yet, the blessings keep coming.  I am so humbled by my blessings.

So, I say to everyone who desires a world of wealth, blessing or abundance.  I say give your deepest wish or prayer to Heavenly Father and give him the glory in everything  that happens in your life.  He will bless you beyond all imagination.

Maybe not the blessing your thinking of.  Perhaps, blessing of contentment, or joy.  Who knows what Heavenly Father has in store for you.  I think in my case, I had done without for so long and with so little that God decided that a few material things would be OK in my case.  Besides, once I gave myself over to it all, the happiness was the best byproduct ever.

If I knew then that I would have a life of such wonders and treasures and care less that I had them, I would have told you that would be crazy.  I could care less that my bank account is heaving and my purses have designer labels and my jewelry is from a store that I love.  Yes, all these things are very nice but what is important is that I have a God that is in his heaven and he guides my life and loves me, a Husband that is steadfast and good to me and will never leave me, a daughter that is awesome and is on her way to living her life the way she wants to live it.   I am a women who is wealthy beyond measure and does not care one measure her wealth with dollar signs.

I say, give up what you hold most dear, the things that you think make you work.  Not the people or the feelings, just the things.  You will be a better person for it, I promise.

I learned that to covet really does not do anyone any good other than once you stop coveting you become a better person and you learn that all that glitters in not gold.