On why am I even here
I wrote this blog almost a year ago, but for some reason never posted it. I was talking with a friend at the gym after class last Saturday and our conversation reminded me of it. After re-reading, I felt it needed very little editing - my thoughts on the matter are still the same today as they were a year ago. We are blessed and I think it’s worth taking the time to recognize that.
Have you ever found yourself in a place where you asked yourself, “why am I even here?” I’m talking both physically and existentially. A lot of times we mean it in a negative way. Like, “why did I waste my time coming to this social event that I didn’t even want to come to in the first place where I know nobody and feel absolutely awkward making small talk or standing in the corner like a creeper?” (Wait, you’ve never been in this situation? Just me? Ok, cool, cool.) Or maybe we find ourselves in a situation in life where a series of decisions lead us down a path we never intended to go. One day we wake up and with pain in our hearts ask, “why am I even here?” I think most of us can relate to the question in some form or fashion at some point in our lives.
Yesterday while I was driving to see my therapist I listened to the sermon our pastor preached last weekend. In it he shared financial statistics from around the world. He said that the average annual household income in the United States is $70,000. In Germany - $52,000, Israel - $49,000, France - $43,000, Poland - $16,000, Mexico - $9,000, Ukraine - $4,000, India - $2,000, Cambodia - $1,500, Sudan - $670, Afghanistan - $500. Now say what you want about cost of living being different in different places. No matter how you slice it, if you live in the United States you are rich by the world’s standard.
Every so often while I’m driving it will hit me just how blessed we are. I’ve traveled to third world countries and seen some pretty poverty stricken places - places where families are starving and parents sell their children into slavery to try to make ends meet. And as I drive down the highway on my way to a grocery store full of whatever type of food I’m in the mood for and adjust the A/C nob down a click because it’s a little too cold, I realize just how privileged we are. I have my own car. I have the financial means to purchase the food I want. I have the convenience of air conditioning and heating and a soft bed and safety for my daughter when we go to sleep at night.
Yesterday I thought to myself, “why am I even here?” I believe that there is a God who creates each of us and chooses where it is that we are to be born. He chose to put me in the United States. He chose to give me loving parents who taught me the things I needed to know in order to grow up and become a successful adult. He brought Jonathan and I together in a loving and supportive marriage. He inspired Jonathan to start the gym - a gym that after many years of hard work is thriving and growing and providing for our needs. And He gave us our Ellie bear (new edit: and our new little one on the way!). God gave us a wonderful life full of blessings and freedom and privilege. But why?
He could have put me in the slums of India or a small mountain village in Afghanistan. When I say that, I don’t mean it as a punishment - I have been to the slums of India and seen some of the most joyful people you’ll ever meet living there. But I mean it as a recognition that He chose to put me in a place of financial prosperity.
It’s easy to forget what you have and take it for granted. Just like any gift, what was all shiny and special at the beginning eventually fades into the normalcy of life and we no longer value it the way we did at the start. Or perhaps when we are born into it, it’s simply our normal and unless something outside of “our world” causes us to realize it, we will never see how special the thing we have is. I’m a huge fan of missions trips for this reason. I think everyone should visit another country (and I’m not talking about a boujie vacation to a tropical island, I’m talking third world country) sometime in their life so that they can have their reality checked. It’s so easy to be absorbed with our own little world and never realize it is just a tiny part of a much greater place. It’s good to have our selfishness challenged through seeing the lives of others. And if we let it, seeing the struggles of others creates empathy and compassion that we may not have had before.
So why are we even here? Why were you and I born in the United States (I’m obviously making an assumption here…)? Why were we placed in a country of privilege? Why do we have the blessings and means to do what we want? Why are we not in a third world country just struggling to survive?
I believe part of the answer is so that we can help others. I don’t think God gives us great financial blessing just so that we can live a happy life and die rich. What a selfish and empty way to live. Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy a meal for a starving child. And I can speak from experience that there is great joy in knowing you have helped someone in need.
It’s the parable of the talents. A master went on a trip, leaving three of this servants in charge of five, two, and one bag(s) of gold. The servants with the five and two bags of gold invested them and doubled their money, but the servant with the single bag of gold buried it and did nothing with it. The master returned and rewarded the two servants who had dealt wisely with their money, but punished and took away the bag from the one who did nothing with his.
God has blessed each of us. Some of us have five bags of gold, some two, and some one. But we all have at least a bag. Now we get to decide what we want to do with that bag. Are we going to invest it into the lives of others, multiplying the blessing from our lives into the lives of others? Or are we going to hold on to it and miss the joy of seeing other people being blessed.
The money is His anyways. He gives and He takes away. We are just meant to be stewards of it. We have opportunities every day, whether it be giving to a worthy cause like fighting human trafficking, or noticing the family at the grocery store who is having to put things back because they can’t afford everything they need. (Yes, there is need in our country too.) Why are we even here? We are here to be conduit of God’s blessings into the lives of others.
I also believe part of the answer is so that we can be grateful to the Lord. 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 says,
“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written:
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
He has blessed us so that we can be a blessing and so that we can praise Him for his goodness with a thankful heart. That is why we are even here.
