Last
year I was dating someone, and one day when we were at my house he said
something about disliking the clutter in my living room.
The
funny thing to me was when he talked about clutter he wasn’t talking about the
pile of papers sitting on my desk, he was talking about my collection of horse
figurines and the pictures on my walls.
But
he really got my attention when he told me that he thought I was too attached
to my decorative things and that he didn’t think that I wouldn’t be able to
sell them.
What
he said has really stayed with me. God has been using it powerfully in my life.
It has made me start noticing things about myself that I didn’t really like. I
started noticing that I have can be materialistic and greedy, that there are
times in my life when I think I need more…more yarn, more books, more clothes,
more shoes, more bags…more, more, more.
As
this year has passed, God has been opening my eyes to other things such as when
I want more I give less. The more I have, the more I think I have to have, the
less I give to others.
I
have started looking around now, and I have begun to notice those who have less
than I do. As I notice them, I start looking for what I can do to help them.
What can I give up?
In
the past year, I have sold a lot of my things…I’m not perfect. I still have a
ways to go on cleaning out and paring down to the necessities, but I am getting
better. I also still have moments where
I think I need something that I really don’t, but I am learning to ask myself
why I want something. I am also learning to look at my things with new eyes…
I
have asking myself how I would feel if lost everything…
or
if a friend saw something and really liked it would I be able to offer it to
them.
Having
more is necessarily wrong, but as Christians, we are sojourners. This world is
not our home, and when our attachment to things becomes greater than our
attachment to God or to others, we need to check ourselves. That is what the
past year has taught me.
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