"If you ain't first..." well that's just fine.

Over this past weekend, I had an epiphany. I’ve been living like Ricky Bobby! While I have absolutely no intention of praying to “Sweet, baby Jesus” or naming my children Walker and Texas Ranger, we’ve both been living with the same mentality: “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”

Haven’t we all found ourselves living by this quote? Whether it be in an intramural kickball tournament, our academics, or by getting asked out, we are either a winner or a loser, on or not on the Dean’s list, noticed or not noticed by a special someone. We find our self worth in all of these different things and become dismayed or burned out when they don’t satisfy us. Even if they do build our ego, we soon are in search of more ways to satisfy our desires and sense of self.

Personally, I have struggled with this quite a bit! Last year, I had my first boyfriend. We spent too much time together, though, and my academics and other friendships suffered. This is just one example; however, it shows how focusing on our own desires leads to a dead end. Where I went wrong was that I was focusing on my own self. I wasn’t focusing on God.

C.S. Lewis once said, “If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for a different world.” This is so true. We have all been made for a different world. We have been made for heaven!

So how do we proceed? “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (1 Corinthians 4:18 NIV). In other words, we need to:

"Let go and let God."

“If you ain’t first…” Well, I’d like to say that is just fine. God is first anyways.