Time For Stuff Or Time WIth Family....hmmmmmm

'Jesus was a simple man.' Sitting on Ron's lap on our favorite chair at his parent's house just talking. That is when I fell in love with the man I have spent my life with. We shared our faith and love for Christ for the 1st time that day. Ron's explanation that Jesus was not complicated and loving him was as simple as his love for us. Just believe and know that he will always be with you.

Life gets so complicated because we let it or probably we actually complicate it ourselves. We spend more time dealing with all the STUFF in our lives, that we shorten the time we have to spend with the people we love and with Him. George Carlin had a whole routine about the exhaustive efforts necessary to acquire, manage, and transport our stuff. Even the garage sales that we plan to eliminate the excess stuff from our lives is time and energy consuming.

'Jesus was a simple man.' His ministry was a mere 3 years long. 1 of the reasons he was able to accomplish all that he did was he didn't burden himself with STUFF. It states clearly in the Bible that we shouldn't worry about having enough stuff. Yet, we are building bigger and bigger houses  these days. Our families have shrunk in size and the time we spend at home has dwindled but the need for larger houses seems to spread. My only conclusion is that we need this extra space to keep our STUFF.

Our families went from 1 phone and 1 tv to at least 1 phone and 1 tv per person. 2 and 3 car garages are proof that we need more than 1 family car and the reason is everyone is going in different directions. Sometimes it seems we are spinning out of control, buried in our stuff as well as our activities.

Ron's opinion now, 35 years later is the same. 'Jesus was a simple man.' Let's live a simple life. Simply by reducing the amount of STUFF we have and not accumulating more, will give us so much more time and money to put into the important elements in life. Traveling more with less items to take with us, giving our time and money to causes that we believe in.

I am a Sam's Club lover since I had 4 kids I thought bulk buying was the only way to go. Now that I have 0 kids at home you would think my bulk buying days would be behind me. Not! It kills me to buy a small dishsoap for the same price as an enormous 1 that would last forever. Ron's wise words are, 'Let the stores store our stuff for us. Then we don't have to have jam packed cupboards that we can't find anything in.' Okay, so I see his point, but old habits of hoarding die hard. And okay he is right that I do throw away a lot that has expired or just gone bad. Guess my savings aren't so great when I look at it honestly. How many pairs of shoes do I need when I only have 1 pair of feet?

Think I will go weed out some of my stuff and rethink my shopping list.

In Him,
Joyful
6-23-2010