I heard a wonderful message this weekend about viewing life’s choices (including those we don’t choose for ourselves) as missional opportunities. Some decisions — like the choice to enter the mission field — stand in stark contrast to the world’s view of success. Yet, the past few months have given me pause to consider what the mission field looks like, after all.

Certainly, the mission field could look like leaving your miserable, unfulfilling job and moving to another continent to teach English. (Been there, done that, got the t-shirt Typhoid immunization.) Yet, the mission field could also look like leaving an apparently very well-to-do job for a lower paying one that is more fulfilling on levels beyond finances.

I don’t mean to be flippant at all … I understand all too well what it’s like to have month left at the end of the money. I have tithed most of my adult life, but in recent years, I have also been fortunate to experience the joy of having excess to give away. It’s a really fantastic feeling to give something away that you could sell, just for the sheer joy of the recipient’s appreciation … because you remember that in the past, you have been the recipient!

One of the most meaningful Scripture passages to me comes from Philippians 4, when Paul thanks his church supporters with these words: “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles ” (v. 11-14).

I have an obligation to ensure that my kiddos are fed, clothed and sheltered, but I am not required to make certain that they have the newest gadgets, hottest fashions or all-inclusive vacations. I don’t want them to be impoverished, by any means, but what I’m trying to say is that we learn to appreciate what we have when we don’t have life handed to us on a silver platter.

Money is important, but it isn’t solely so. I would rather earn less and love what I do than kill myself (quite literally, via stress) trying to live up to the world’s idea of success.