The other day a friend drove me to her brand-new house.

You know what they say in the real-estate business — the mantra when it comes to choosing a house is “location, location, location.”

Well, her new house had a reasonably good location with a sorta nice view, you know, nothing too fancy — JUST A GOLF COURSE.

Yup, her backyard overlooked an impossibly, immaculately, impeccably green 9-hole golf course with a water body that shone in the sunlight and, evidently, peacocks that trot around looking quite regal till a golf ball hits them (kidding about balls, not kidding about the peacocks).

The house came with access to a gym that looked like it was fit for the likes of J Lo, a spa, a sauna and a swimming pool, a reading room, a mini movie theater, and a café where we sipped our Americanos while I took pictures of the golf course like a starry-eyed tourist in NYC taking selfies with Lady Liberty.

It took the expression, “The grass is greener on the other side” to a whole new level.

Of course, I’m happy for my friend and her family as they get to live in their dream house.

But my visit came right on the heels of the news that our old house back in the US went on the market for … let’s just say a chunk-o-change more than we sold it for six years ago. (When I say “chunk,” think in terms of college tuition for one child.)

So, when these two pieces of life collided in the span of a couple of days, I went into grumbling-like-an-old-man-with-heartburn, full-on tantrum mode with God.

Why did we sell our house?

We should have just rented it out.

I don’t need a golf-course view, God, but a fourth bedroom would be awesome — just a woman cave where I could linger over my devotional time and write without interruptions and read a book while eating salted caramel popcorn and…

But then came that leetle thing called conviction. Three thoughts about location, location, location — but more focussed on the landscape of my heart.

 

1. Am I in a place of grumbling or gratitude?

The Bible says that the Son of Man had no place to lay His head (Matthew 8:20). I, on the other hand, get to lay my head on a Memory Foam pillow in a bedroom with beautiful furniture in a lovely home that I don’t deserve. And I get to share my space with three other stellar human beings (Not being partial here. Okay, well, maybe a bit.). Yet, I had found myself whining instead of focussing on my blessings.

Where are our hearts today? Do they lean toward discontentment or are they located in gratitude?

 

2. Am I in a place of remaining or rushing?

Where am I supposed to live? While Scripture doesn’t prescribe a physical location, it instructs us to abide or remain in the Vine. One of my favorite passages says: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” (John 15: 1). Jesus then charges us with this: ^“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” (John 15: 4).

Instead of remaining in the Vine, I tend to rush around, trying to fill my life with stuff that I think can fill me up, whether it’s work or social media or keeping my house like a magazine spread or whatever else I think can impute me with worth.

The question before us is, are you and I choosing to remain in Christ and make Him our dwelling place? Or are we rushing around trying to bear fruit in our own strength?

 

3. Am I in a place of ‘here and now’ or ‘then and always’?

Do you know what can free me from constantly wanting the next best thing? Having an eternal perspective. I’m not saying we should be so heavenly-minded that we’ll be of no earthly good, but when we’re so consumed with our here and now, we have no space in our hearts for the things of eternity.

God has prepared a place for us in heaven. Jesus promised His disciples that in His Father’s house are “many rooms” (John 14:2). No, I don’t believe that God is busy redecorating a Mc Mansion on Gold Street for me. He’s got something far sweeter — being in His presence with others who know Him — something my earthly mind can never fully grasp but that I can look forward to with the greatest of all expectation, knowing I will never be let down.

Are we dwelling on the temporal or on the eternal? Are we so caught up with the right here that we aren’t captivated by what has been promised to us?

Let’s focus on the real estate of our hearts because that’s what truly matters.

Meanwhile, if anyone finds me a really great deal on a house with a view, I’ll take it. Trotting peacocks are optional.

 

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