What has priority in your life? I have a friend who I’d like to know better, but I can’t seem to connect with him. It seems he has other priorities… my wife thinks one of them is “status.” I guess since I don’t have much of that, he doesn’t see the need to spend much time with me. If it’s just a personality thing, I can handle that. I’m not everybody’s cup of tea. But if there’s an issue with status… this story popped out at me today: Olympic gold medalist Tim Montgomery sentenced to jail.
Notice his statement:
“I’ve had everything I ever wanted in life. I’ve stood on the top of the mountain,” Montgomery told the court. But now, “the gold medal, all those people cheering, that was part of another world. … In jail, my status is gone.”
It reminds me of Ecclesiastes. Pursuing anything other than God and his will is vanity. The fastest man in the world becomes just another inmate.
I see some irony in that my only motive in trying to befriend this guy is to build into his life, to help him consider where his priorities should be. Not by preaching at him, and not by criticizing him. Just by spending time with him.
Not that I have everything figured out – of course I’m learning too.
