As a HGTV addict, it was almost surreal when I was in my own personal episode of House Hunters.  My husband and I had an awesome time looking for our second home.  I had a wish list as long as the Texas sun is hot.  That list included things like a pool, hard wood floors, a large master bedroom, large lot, etc, etc.  Most of the things on my list I got.  However, there were some that did not make the final cut.  One thing that I had to settle for was buying a house on a busy street.  My house not only sits on the main street of my neighborhood that serves as the feeder to all the other streets, but it also sits at the top of a hill.

This is not the most ideal situation for a family with small children.  Just last week, my two year old was playing with a ball in the front yard.  My attention was some what divided between watching him and loading my youngest child in the car.  Right when I snapped the last buckle to the baby’s car seat and turned to tell my son to come to the car, I saw the ball that he was playing with swiftly rolling down the hill. 

Impulse took over me and I went barreling down the hill chasing the ball.  Then, as if having an out of body experience, I stopped dead in my tracks to survey the situation.  One of my precious babies was strapped in an unlocked vehicle and the other one was standing unsupervised and dangerously close to a busy street.  I was at least 20 to 30 feet away from them both.  And for what?  Because I was chasing a $2 rubber ball.

It made me think about what other unimportant things in life I am chasing at the expense of the things that really matter.  How about you?  What great thing have you postponed, forfeited, neglected or abandoned in exchange for something cheap, temporary, and possibly even sinful.  Are you a single woman chasing a career at the expense of starting a family?  Or a business woman chasing a promotion at the expense of investing in your marriage?  Are you chasing an ungodly relationship and  pouring your time and energy into it rather than waiting on God to send you a Godly mate?  Or those of you who are running vigorously after money, fame, or prestige.  Others of you that are running away from responsibility, work, and effort and continue to chase the shallow and temporal things in life.

What “rubber ball” of life do you need to stop chasing?  I made the decision to let the ball continue to roll away, realizing that I would most likely never see it again.  I am not suggesting that your decision to willingly turn away from the thing that you have been chasing long and hard will be this easy.  I am suggesting that making the right decision will always be worth it, even if the thing that you were initially chasing never returns. 

 As I strapped my son into the car next to his sister and closed the door, a truck pulled to the edge of my driveway.  It was a neighbor who witnessed the ball rolling away and was kind enough to retrieve and return it to me.  He did not realize that this was more than a kind gesture, but also confirmation from God.

That when we "seek you first the kingdom of God, all these things will be added unto you."  Matthew 6:33