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Dragon-Slaying


Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:11)

          Simplify by Bill Hybels is a good book to read if you’re feeling like you need a life. He writes about five keys to filling your bucket (soul, heart): (re)connecting with God, (re)connecting with family, doing the right work, re-creation, and exercise. Now at the end of the book, he writes about satisfaction. It’s not only important to figure out what satisfies and what doesn’t, but why those things do or don’t satisfy. Does it not satisfy because it’s too easy? Does it not satisfy because I have unrealistic and/or perfectionistic ideas? Does it fail to satisfy because there is something inherent in the activity that leads to dissatisfaction?
          He lists several filters he uses to evaluate the opportunities that come his way: Will it bring true satisfaction? Does it align with God’s purpose for my life, or with my purpose for my life? Will it lead to a life of significance? (Or, will it lead to the life of significance I actually want?)
          He goes on to list seven things that he describes as “wind-chasing:” physical health and longevity, education, pleasure, work, wealth, sex, and fame. Given that some of these are connected with some of the five bucket-filling activities, this may create confusion. Bucket-filling activities are the means to the end of filling and maintaining a bucket. We start chasing the wind when the activities become ends-unto-themselves, or when we become unbalanced. We chase the wind when those five bucket-fillers, or even our bucket, gets mutated from being a helpful part of our lives to a dragon that hoards wealth and eats what we sacrifice to it but is never satisfied. 
         I like his questions about satisfaction. I suspect quite most of us need to do some dragon-slaying.

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