Living Life Abundantly

Are you a spring cleaner? Do you get the itch when nice weather rolls around to not only do a deeper clean of the house, but to go through what you have and purge of what you do not need?

I’ll admit I get the spring cleaning itch more than once a year, but it’s often because I don’t do well with clutter. I like everything to have it’s own space and place. We have more than enough room in our house, but it does lack closets, drawers, etc. So it has made me a little more choosy about what we keep and don’t keep.

Though the problem often isn’t that we don’t have the storage space for something. It often lies within the fact that I let too much through our doors because I think we lack something, to the point where we have more than enough. More than what we need.

During chemo, I spent way too much time in our living room, sitting on my little couch cushion, taking in every detail of our home. I was getting the urge to do all kinds of things to it; and not just small projects either. I would look at a picture on Pinterest and think oh, I could do that to our house! So then I would mindlessly scroll through websites, dreaming of what it could possibly look like. And the website’s goal was accomplished – to suck me into the thinking that I needed MORE.

Sometimes after an exhausting day, it’s easy to jump online and shop, look at how others are living their lives via social media, and delve into life on Pinterest. Somebody else’s way of decorating or living their life catches your eye, and you reconsider how you live yours. But do you REALLY need it? Even when it comes to a good deal, is it really needed? I LOVE going to thrift shops and/or finding a good deal in a store, but over the past year or two, the lure isn’t what it once was. The satisfaction of finding a deal is satisfying, for a little while, but was the item REALLY needed? Now don’t get me wrong, you’ll still find me at a thrift store, but being fairly picky and choosy about what I get. And often it’s the one in, one out rule too.

Our “have it now” culture doesn’t do us any good either. I needed to order a supplement that I was almost out of for my heart failure and after clicking “Order”, it said it would be on my doorstep by this evening. Seriously? And this is the danger that we are all in. When we see something we want, within a few clicks, and maybe a day or two, we will have it. We don’t give our minds enough time to think about if we really need it or not. We see it, we want it, we buy it, and then we have it.

What we need to rethink how we live our lives. Do we live with a mindset of constantly lacking? Or one of abundance? We can feel we can lack not only possessions, but time and gifts as well. We try to fill those voids in our minds, hearts, and homes with temporary things. Things that may satisfy for a time, but not for eternity.

But God has given us MORE than we will ever need, through His Son. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, which we just spent time celebrating, we have more than enough. We have abundant life in Him. The material possessions of this world will never satisfy, but an abundant life lived for Him, will. So the next time you are scrolling through a website, ask yourself why? Is it out of an attitude of gratitude or one of scarcity? Is it being done mindlessly or out of need? Is it in pursuit of a life lived for him or pursuit of a life that even isn’t yours?

I’m joining you in this pursuit of abundant living because surely I too, need to practice this as well.