Stuff

 If you read the blog last week, I warned you. This week we are going to talk about "stuff".

I started a decluttering mission at the beginning of the year, trying to dig deep into getting excess stuff out of my life one room at a time. Yard sale week is May 11th and hopefully, I have time to get my stuff together and be ready for it because I definitely have enough now unwanted stuff for a sale.

I was doing okay with the fact that I was making things more simple and just feeling really good about what I was accomplishing until I watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie. It is funny, I remember laying on the floor of the living room anxiously awaiting the first episode of the story of one of my 7-year-old idols, Laura Ingalls. I was a reader from a young age and my mom and sister would read a lot to me too, We had already read most of the LIW books before the showed aired, so I was hard pressed to miss an episode. Andrew on the other hand, had never watched it, so these shows are new to him.

Anyway, it was a Christmas episode and  My Edwards had tromped through a blizzard to get the girls gifts from Santa. The gifts consisted of a tin cup (so they NOW had cups of their own), a peppermint candy stick, a cake and a penny. And they were elated.

What has happened to us?

I pondered this question more then next day on my way to the gym, during my prayer time. Why do we feel the need to have so much stuff? What are we doing? 

There was a time it was called, "keeping up with the Jones", but I seriously don't think that is it for me. Then I think a thought to my head came, we all know when we are in Heaven, we will want or need nothing. Have I been trying to create Heaven on Earth?

And of course, the moment this thought hit my mind, so did Matthew 6:19-21 

9 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

And then it hit me, we also have a saying, "Home is where the heart is". Yep, maybe that was what I was trying to do and missing the point all together. 

I am not against having nice things at all. I don't think God wants our time here on earth to be miserable by any means. But I do wonder what I could have done for others with some of the money I spent trying to just make myself feel better and now I am getting ready to hope and pray that someone else will buy it for pennies on the dollar. 

When I started decluttering, I also put us on a money diet. I have worked diligently at making sure I have menus planned, so we don't eat out on the spur of the moment. I have limited (but not quit mind you) my Starbucks and Scooter's habits and made myself write down every penny we have spent. It is a lot like counting calories. If you write it down, you realize quickly that you have spent $25 on coffee in a week when for the same $25 you could buy the coffee, sweetener, almond milk and even flavoring and get more than 3 cups of coffee. And of course, I have a goal in mind. I am trying to plan an entire trip in the fall using nothing but the savings from my budget. 

I am still kind of in awe myself that not once since January 1 have I came home and told Andrew, we will just grab Chinese. We haven't done it. I have ate out when I travelled (and that was paid for by my work), but he had food at home. As a couple, we have had lunch out one day, the week after Valentines Day, and I have had a couple of lunch dates with friends and I limited myself to eating out once a week at work, because we are sometimes other places and it is unavoidable and I will just say it, sometimes you just need to walk away for an hour, but I can honestly say I haven't ate out every week, and it makes me feel good that I am prioritizing a little better.

So, as you go about your week, I hope you remember our treasures are in Heaven. Our worth is not in what we own, but in the sacrifice Christ made for us on the Cross.

I am leaving you with a song to say just that. This is Keith & Kristyn Getty with My Worth Is Not in What I Own.

Happy Saturday!