The Prison of Want

I haven't posted anything for awhile and wanted to share this with you... It is from Max Lucados, "Traveling Light for Mothers."

"Come with me to the most populated prison in the world. The facility has more inmates than bunks. More prisoners than plates. More residents than resources.Come with me to the worlds most oppressive prison. Just ask the inmates they will tell you. They are overworked and underfed. Their walls are bare and bunks are hard.
No prison is so populated, no prison so oppressive, and whats more, no prison is so permanent. Most inmates never leave. They never get released. They serve a life sentence in this overcrowded, underprovisioned facility.
The name of the prison?
W-A-N-T
The prison on want. You've seen her prisoners. They are in want/ They want something. They want something bigger. Nicer. Faster. Thinner. They want. They don't want much, mind you. They want just one thing. One new couch. One new car. One new house. One new spouse. They dont want much. They want just one.

And when they have "one," they will be happy. And they are right-they will be happy. When they have "one," they will leave the prison. But then it happens. The couch gets a spot. The new job gets old. The neighbors buy a larger tv. The new spouse has bad habits. The sizzle fizzles, and before you know it, another ex-con breaks parole and returns to jail.

Are you in prison? You are if you feel better when you have more and worse when you have less. You are if joy is one delivery away, one transfer away, one award away, or one makeover away. If you happiness comes from something you deposit, drive, drink, or digest, then face it- you are in the prison of want.

Thats the bad news. The good news is, you have a visitor. And you visitor has a message that can get you paroled. Make your way to the receiving rooml Take your seat in the chair, and look acroos the table at the psalmist David. He motions for you to lean forward. " I have a secret to tell you, " he whispers, " the secret of satisfaction. The Lord is my shepard; I shall not want." (Ps. 23:1)

David has found the pasture where discontent goes to die. Its as if he is saying, "What I have in God is greater than what I don't have in life."
You think you and I could learn to say the same?
Think just a moment about the things you own.
Think about the house you have, the car you drive, the money you've saved.
Envision all your stuff. Let me remind you of two biblical truths.

Your stuff isn't yours.
"Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he depart. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand. " (Eccles. 5:15)
All that stuff-its not yours. And you know what else about all that stuff? Is not you. Who you are has nothing to do with the clothes you wear or the car you drive. Jesus said, "Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have alot."
When God thinks of you he may see your compassion, your devotion, your tenderness or quick mind, but he doesn't think of your things."

He continues on but that's enough to stop and let soak in for now! I'll follow this up with my personal experience from the prison soon!