Sometimes my dad talks about a place. A place called "Realville." I guess you'll never see it in movies, or experience it in video games. I don't think you can even find it on Facebook. It's a place that's not glamorous or epic, and frankly it's mostly unexciting. It's, well, it's reality. It's the everyday, tiny little moments, responsibilities and things that make up existence. My dad says we've got to live here, in Realville that is.
The problem is, nobody wants to live there anymore. Honestly, it's just plain boring. When compared to all the exciting games, movies, music, and media we all have at our fingertips, well, we've just come to have a distaste for all that is, ordinary. Really, why settle for doing the dishes when you can conquer the know universe. Who would want to play outside with sticks when they can watch crazy characters get into all kinds of trouble instead? Why change a diaper when you can change your status update? We can get much more affirmation from our Facebook friends than we can from our family. We can take vacations from Realville in many different ways. Stick your nose in books all day, fantasize about that guy/girl at work, or school, or (gasp) church. "Dream" about all that you could do, or will do, or want to do. Find a special place deep in your mind, and hang out there.
Not all of these things are bad, or evil. Some of them can even be educational and enriching. Isn't it o.k. to get away from reality every once in a while? Sometimes life gets too heavy, or hard, or......boring. I know, living in Realville isn't easy. Living in Realville is hard, but you know what? God lives in Realville. He lives in the moments and the faces and the little everyday tasks that make up Realville. When we run from it, we're not just running from the hard things, or the mundane things, or the things that don't turn out the way we had imagined they would. When we're dissatisfied with living in Realville, we have become dissatisfied with God.
Whatever my day looks like, whatever un-amazing thing I need handle, whatever people I will SEE and whoever depends on me, that's what needs the weight of my full, undivided attention. Knowing my limitations, understanding my responsibilities, and believing in a God whose grace will always be sufficient for every, single moment. That's living in Realville. That's YOLO at it's best. Because each moment, yeah, YOU. ONLY. LIVE. ONCE.
So I vow to to be here, to LIVE here, in Realville. Every, single day. Even the hard ones. Even, :::GULP:::, the boring ones. I vow to limit my media, to log out of Facebook, and to never join Pinterest (because it is pure evil lol) I don't want all the distractions to make my heart unable to recognize the adventure that this life is, and the awesomeness and goodness of God right here, right now, in Realville. Will you join me? Will you roll up your sleeves and get to work on all the good things God has given you to do? Will you live with me, embracing every mundane and minute detail of each chapter of our story? Let's choose to open our eyes and see, truly see, God's redeeming love in this broken place, in this crazy town called Realville.
CHALLENGE! I'm creating a "NO MEDIA NOVEMBER" challenge to all my Facebook friends. Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1548364688716786/
