What kind of goals did you have for life? In other words, what was your idea of personal success?
“I couldn’t picture college or adult life, so my impossible goal would’ve been to be five again and stay a kid.”
Have your life goals or ideas of success changed at all since that time? “yes” If so, how?
“Now that I have a husband, a son, and all the stuff of adulthood, I have people to serve and a developing man to shape toward his own adulthood – which he doesn’t really want either.”
Please complete Daniel 4:4. ‘I Nebuchadnezzar was “at home in my palace, contented and prosperous.”’
Contented and prosperous. Who could ask for anything more? …Before we look at the meetings of the Aramaic words translated contented and prosperous, explain how you think our culture defines each.
Contented: “comfortable in, and satisfied by what we have”
Prosperous: “successful financially, and able to buy luxury items”
How about you? Describe the premium you have placed on security through the course of your life and why.
“I was for the most part a very secure child – playground bullying couldn’t outweigh parental adoration. I insist on security and won’t accept less. I don’t like surprises and I don’t like schedule changes and I especially don’t like broken promises.”
How does David’s state of mind in Psalm 30:6 remind you of Nebuchadnezzar’s in Daniel 4:4?
“Both were so secure, they couldn’t imagine being otherwise.”
Hebrews 12:26-29 echoes the trouble with dependence on earthly securities. Read these verses and think conceptually. Why does God allow or appoint things in our world to ‘shake’ at times?
“He desires to shake loose some of the worldly ‘chaff’ we don’t need.”
How does Psalm 62:1-2 beautifully convey the concept of authentic seleh?
“God is the only true security – soul security.” 
Actually, those of us in Christ are princesses at heart, but not in the kingdoms of this world.
In relative terms, most of us doing this Bible study are counted among the prosperous on planet earth. Many of us have tasted luxury at one time or another, even if it was as a visitor on someone else’s turf. Describe your own biggest brush with outright luxury.
“My mom had a Japanese student, Kaori, in her classes just before our trip in 1986. She gave mom her dad‘s phone number and insisted we call him. it turned out, he was president of a big corporation, so we were told the limo would arrive at 3 o’clock. We hurriedly dressed up and began a whirlwind adventure. He showed us around his business and wined and dined us in a private dining area in the hotel where he lived during the week. At one point he called out, ‘Start the harp!’ and music began downstairs. We were served escargot and champagne, etc. He took out an electric razor and shaved at the table – I guess to convey how frightfully busy and important he was. We were impressed and grateful, but glad to return to our own hotel and lesser status.”
Beloved, what is real living in your opinion?
“My favorite place comes to mind – a quiet cottage on an island in Ohio – swimming every afternoon and walking barefoot in the grass, playing bocce ball, scratch ball, frisbee, or jarts.”
Dearest Rachel –
When I flipped through this week’s (yeah, for you it was this day’s, but you know what I mean by now) study in order to display it as part of the letter, I was thrilled to see large swaths of purple ink; clearly you had a lot to say about this topic. And you didn’t disappoint; it’s always wondrous to come across a memory you’ve written down, even if it was one I wasn’t a part of. Actually, in a way, it’s that much better, since it isn’t a memory I can share; only you can tell this. Sure, some of the mutual memories can be brought back to me by your references to them from the time, but these insights from your pre-college days are insights into the you before we even met; you were different then.
To be sure, I think I recall you telling this story once or twice, especially when we were talking about the possibility of taking Daniel to see Japan and trying to show to him what we saw in the place and why it appealed to us. Granted, some of the things we experienced couldn’t be replicated for him, like your homestay in Tsumago, or my wanderings during the mourning for Hirohito… or this particular event. Though, I think I recall in the telling about that shaving incident in particular, and how you interpreted that bit of rudeness (uncharacteristic for a Japanese person, but maybe showing off is a universal desire) amid the formality. For some reason, this song comes to mind:
What’s weird to me is the realization that you could have grown up in more luxurious settings; as tenured university professors, your parents each made a living that would have statistically put them in, if not the top one percent of wage earners, well above the ten percent line – which would have been even more pronounced in a low standard (and cost) of living place as you grew up in. Not nearly to an extent like Kaori’s dad, but far more than most people dream of.
Of course, your folks being Depression babies, they never felt secure enough to really be able to splash out like that; we even had to twist their arms for them to accept the 24 (initially 17, until your Dad’s final stroke) hour care they needed in their last years. And they instilled a certain frugality in you in turn, which had you preferring the rustic charms of the island to the overly plush comforts of a cruise ship (yeah, I’ll never quite get over that gift from our silver anniversary).
Which is fine; it speaks well of one to be able to content oneself with less rather than more, lest the ability to have ‘more’ runs out for some reason. And if that, combined with your folks’ evident love and care for you was sufficient for you to feel secure, that put you in a better emotional place than they – or quite possibly, even Kaori’s dad – could ever be in. And that’s not even touching on spiritual security, which despite being orders of magnitude more important, on an eternal basis, we hardly give anywhere near as much thought to. But you did, and I (and Daniel) have, so we can rest assured that we will see each other again, and in a place so much more luxurious that we can imagine – because if we can imagine anything, it’s because God gave us the ability to do so; how much further beyond our ability could what He can provide and assemble for us be?
Letters to Rachel 