Lasting Things

It is a strange feeling to be selling all of our things once again to move across the ocean for an uncertain amount of time.  There is a feeling of relief along with sadness in seeing them go because we become accustomed or sometimes attached to our things.  But I know that the sadness is short-lived when we move back to the land of over abundance and we will have opportunity to slowly buy back many similar things that we had before.  But then I ask myself:  To what end will we buy these things?  Will we buy them simply to satisfy a craving, to keep up with the Jones or to merely have them to collect dust because we know one day soon we will need said thing? 

Over the past several years, I have noticed that things collect similarly to dust.  You don’t realize how much is there until you try to organize the things or clean away the dust.  But I don’t want to be a collector of things (or dust for that matter which is attracted to all my things).  The more things I have the more time it takes for me to take care of the things or to be concerned that something might happen to that [important] thing. 

It is SO easy (for me) to become consumed with having nice things, maintaining those things and saving for the next best thing that I forget that Jesus wasn’t concerned with things at all.  His only concern was to do the will of His Father and His Father’s will was for Him to invest his time in people.  In fact, Jesus asked His disciples to go with very little on them; perhaps, it was because He knew there is a certain burden in having too many things. 

So the next logical question is: how do I have a more simplistic life with fewer things?  I am not really sure but maybe first, I need to redefine what an actual need is versus what a want is.   This does not mean that I can never satisfy my wants, but when I define them as wants I must realize that they are a luxury (a plus) and therefore they are not required for sustaining my life (our lives).  Naturally, I think that would lead me to more prayerfully consider my want purchases.

Don’t get me wrong I know that we all need certain things to live…but after living in one of the poorest countries of the world for 2+ years, it is obvious that many things are a luxury and/or comfort item to satisfy our own desires.  I just don’t want to waste my life/time on having all the nice things and maintaining them so that they last…instead of investing in the only thing that lasts forever His word and human souls. 

P.S.  To be honest, I think this is all surfacing now because I am nervous about coming back to the land of excess.  I am afraid I will not have self-control to resist buying WAY too many things at Target (for example) or wanting to buy every toy that my kids ask for at the store.  I have by no means mastered living the simple life, but I want it more than ever because of what God has been teaching me and what I have seen living overseas.