Treasures worth investing in

I could only be a minimalist under duress.

Reading "The Joy of Less" by Francine Jay, I'm struck with the weight of our stuff. We are taught from childhood to trade ourselves for items we don't need, whether for their use or beauty. Jay talks about "the freedom of living with just 'enough' to meet our needs."

We covet things, save to exchange our lives for them (time=money), and fill our homes with them. Then we have to clean and maintain them, push them around to make room among our other stuff, store them when we're weary of them, and finally dispose of them. (Or if we're unwilling to do that, our kids or executors are stuck with the chore.)

The first time I remember distinguishing between the beauty that enhances my life and a house full of "pretty things," I was listening to professional organizer Peter Walsh. He was trying to explain to a hoarder that precious items should have a place of honor. That every thing was not important or worth keeping. But in the blank expression and distress on the person's face, I saw the same initial incomprehension I was feeling. Wasn't all the stuff I had pleasing to me? Useful? Or at least pretty?

As a follower of Christ, I'm obligated to keep my heart free from the love of acquisition. I'm not permitted to tie myself greedily to things. Jay asks in her book, "If someone offered you a great job [/ministry] if you could move across the country in 3 days, how would you respond?"

Would you or I:

• leap at the opportunity, thank God, and pack a few boxes?
• spend sleepless nights and days packing and sorting ... and fretting?
• decline because there's too much stuff to consider moving?

I had to think about that. This month, God has brought one thing after another along to encourage and help keep me moving. Some evenings there is more on the floor than I started with. The heaps of things turned out of drawers and surfaces come and go.

Bathroom during cleanup
(I love to read in the tub; I hate to
store exercise clothing in the closet)

Bathroom after
(books put away; clothing
hung on hooks, ready to use)

I've barely started but the weight is lifting. This home took 35 years to fill. Four children have grown up here and their residue lurks in the basement along with other forgotten treasures and junk.

How would I think I can sort and free myself from the clutches of memorial waste in a month, baring a catastrophe? I can watch people lose everything in an instant via BBC and Japan News. On my monitor, people run from war and floods and earthquakes with only their clothing and a small sack of belongings. Why do we think that could never happen to us? That we could never live without our possessions?

In contrast to the things we've been trained to value, what does God tell us to fill our lives with? Truth, wisdom, discipline, good judgment, relationships. Those cannot be taken from us by feast or famine. These things will remain.

Back to work, then!

Read more:

*Get the truth and never sell it; also get wisdom, discipline, and good judgment. Proverbs 23:23

*God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength—who has resisted him, and succeeded? Job 9:4

*Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 NIV

*Who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? Romans 9:20

Moravian Prayer: Mighty God, thank you for being available for us; forgive us when we fall and come short of your glory. Father, we ask for a fresh anointing on souls today, that we may experience your Holy presence in our lives. Amen.

Enough already!

This second Sunday after the Epiphany, most of us have put Christmas behind us. Decorations and lights are down and packed - or thrown - away. The bills for gifts we scrambled to buy are coming due. And we may have some wonderful memories of friends and family that we pull out to treasure, via photos or online.

I've made it a policy to commit a donation of "stuff" each time we get called by charity pickups. I often try to find things the night before. Supposedly, we're supposed to have things at the curb by 7am. Since we have a long driveway, there's no way I'm lugging a bag or bags to the street the night before ... or that early in the morning. Either W drops it off on his way to work, or I'll take it up when the dogs and I go walking. A little each time helps keep the house from overflowing. (I haven't braved the basement yet. Be forewarned, those who store their things below.)

The stores, filled with treasures and trash for the holidays, have marked down their stock. Many of us are shopping 75%-reduction sales, browsing for something that might not yet be in our house, kitchen, garage, or bedroom. I take longer to buy things, and generally avoid the stores. My house is full.

Ok, I admit I found the coolest ceiling laundry rack that can lower one rod at a time. It would save me from having to rescue toppled laundry. (The folding rack sitting on our washer-dryer gradually moves to tip everything onto the floor. I'm still debating that purchase. Will it make life easier, better? Support a small business?)

W refilled counter-top containers with flour and sugar from big storage bags this week. "How blessed we are not to worry where the rice, the flour, the food comes from," he remarked, scooping out food into the canisters. We talked about abundance, and how we take it all for granted. We think God owes us this "easy" life, where food, water, and shelter are part of our daily lives. We are his debtors, not he ours. I'm asking God for a grateful heart, and to know when enough is enough.

Earlier this month, a friend asked, "What one word would you choose for 2012?" Immediately, "GRATITUDE" popped into my mind. I resisted adopting it for a few days, in a funk over a series of disappointments. But the word keeps knocking at my heart. Truly, each of us has much for which to thank God. I'm reflecting on a few:

• Life
• Family
• Friends
• Church
• Breath of heaven, holding us together
• Nearness of God, thinking of us by day and night
• Forgiveness, given and received
• Abundant provisions
• Work, though it may come and go in seasons
• Sunshine and shadow
• Ministry and being ministered to
• The treasured Word, come to be among us, written on our hearts
• The Scriptures, the revelation of God to us (how few of us value it, or feast on its riches)
• Home and household

And - so much more. What's on your list?
I  hope you fall asleep and wake praising God for his tender mercies and the grace he lavishes on us!

Read more: 
*Second Sunday after the Epiphany: Watchword for the Week - How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Psalm 139:17

*1 Samuel 3:1-10,(11-20); Psalm 139:1-6,13-18; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51

*Ah, you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you. Isaiah 5:8

*For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Mark 8:36

Moravian Prayer: Giving God, you have created all that exists, but our greed compels us to covet things you have given to others. Have mercy on us for our sin of wanting more. Help us to find joy in our own gifts. Amen.