The Pack-It-All-In Mentality
financial doom. And when he is home, he is not the relaxed rela- tional dad that every child needs. Jack’s children will remember the big house and the vacation home, but they will also remember Dad’s absence and distance. Consider how different things would be if Jack understood what eternity teaches us about the here and now. Imagine if he understood that the deepest, most satisfying joys are not to be found in the possessions and experiences of this brief here-and- now moment. Imagine if that freed Jack to be content with a smaller home, a summer rental at the beach, and fewer toys for him and the children. Imagine if Jack remembered every day that the God who was moving him toward eternity would give him everything he needed along the way. Then Jack wouldn’t need to work as much, he wouldn’t need to worry as much, and he could spend more time doing the most important work assigned to him this side of forever: lovingly serving his wife and joyfully parent- ing his children. David and Beth are also committed to a lifestyle that will not work. They are modern-day epicureans on a pathway to disap- pointment. Maybe the deal breaker will be bills that they are unable to pay or a health issue that alters life as they know it, but the pleasure-at-any-cost paradigm won’t work in the long run. They have placed all of their joy in the basket of physical, mate- rial experiences in the here and now. They are so convinced that the good life is a life of present, physical pleasure that they have forced themselves not to look at the real cost (personal, relational, and financial) of this kind of lifestyle. While celebrating here and now, they have become skilled at denying the inescapable reali- ties of here and now. They are engaging in a “smile and deny” way of living that is much emptier and more dangerous than they understand. Beth and David don’t have a food problem. They have an eter- nity problem that results in food being in a place it should not be. Cutting the foodie aspect out of their lifestyle would not solve
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