When I went off to college my Dad gave me a credit card and said “Laura this is for your groceries, use it on things you need vs. what you want.” Every time I used that credit card I looked twice in the cart before I checked out. Did I really need whatever I was getting? This resonated with me throughout my years at TCU and still to this day I think about those simple words. Yes there were a few purchases that we still laugh about today... ie. “The Library” which Dad really thought was a library until he found out it was actually a bar during one visit to campus! Imagine his surprise. I just chalk it up to being 21. But back to the point!
Why does it feel so good to clean out our closest and take a huge bag to goodwill? It’s not just because I am donating to charity, it is because my closest is clean. Less stuff cluttering the shelves and floor and making me feel a bit cleaner on the inside too. Why do I feel cleaner and on the inside by just throwing away some old clothes? I think God clearly explains my feelings in Matthew 6:19-24.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be! Talk about some self-reflection!! What I am realizing is that it is not the stuff that holds me down, making me feel cluttered and un-clean, it is my heart. By staying in the Word and living with a daily mindset that yields all of my possessions are from the Lord and belong to the Lord and are not mine, I give over the idol of stuff and I become free to live as God calls me. It is not focusing on denying myself, but a mindfulness of how things I want can become idols. Sometimes a good thing can become a god thing.
Don’t lose your head over what perishes. Nearly everything does perish: so face the facts, don’t rush after the transient and unreal. Maintain your soul in tranquil dependence on God; don’t worry; don’t mistake what you possess for what you are. Accumulating things is useless. Both mental and material avarice are merely silly in view of the dread facts of life and death. —Evelyn Underhill, The House of the Soul and Concerning the Inner Life
I find this even harder since having kids. I want to buy them everything I think they could ever want but I struggle realizing their happiness is not dependant on what I give them, but rather what I teach them. I remember going to Mexico on mission trips and watching the kids play on the street for hours with sticks and rope. They were just as happy as my 2 year old with a house full of toys. It is a daily decision to choose between needs and want. By embracing simplicity, I am free to celebrate the abundance that God provides!
