Bush Man

I was in beautiful San Francisco last weekend with my sister and a good friend. We saw many interesting things, but what I am about to tell you next is probably the most intersting of them all. We took the Muni (aka the public bus system) around everywhere we went, and on the second day we took it down to Pier 39. A couple of stops before we got off, a homeless man got on carrying a big bundle of freshly cut leafy branches. They were about 3 feet long and rather cumbersome in the bus. When we got off at our stop he stayed on. We looked around the pier for a couple hours and then walked down a couple of blocks for lunch. On our way back, we saw the man with the branches again. He was kneeling on the sidewalk and holding the branches in front of him, so they kind of looked like a bush and he was mostly hidden behind them. As we walked by, he jumped out at a person walking the other direction, presumably to scare them. Apparently this is what he did to make money, although we didn't see a cup or hat or anything on the sidewalk.

This is rather an amusing story, mainly because it seems like an odd way to make money, if that's what he was doing. It got me thinking, "Why is he doing that?" That thought in turn got me thinking of another question: Why do I do what I do? Everyone has a reason for what they do, whether they realize it or not. The man hiding behind the branches on the sidewalk had a reason for doing that, and I had reason for walking by to see him. Nothing happens by accident. You made a choice to do everything you did today,and so I ask you, "Why did you do it?" At first the answers seem obvious, but I encourage you to dig deeper. Why am I writing this blog? At first, the answer is because one of my new year's resolution was to write one blog a week, and I am running out of time for this week. Going deeper, however, I discover that I don't want to fail at keeping my resolution, and publically fail at that, which is the motivation behind this blog. That in turn could lead to if I worry about how I look in other people's eyes and keeping a good face. At that point I learn something about myself. I could do this for all of my activities, and I am sure it would be very revealing.

The point of doing this little excercise is to check my motives and see what they are, and what they should be. Am I glorifying God in ALL my actions? Are the surface motives that I want people to see the same as my inward motives? I challenge you: Take one area or one activity and really question yourself on why you do it. If you need a good place to start, try it for Facebook and see what you discover. I'd love to hear about it!