Stuff, Time, and Money

You can quickly read over that sentence and say “okay, I won’t.” No, really. Don’t buy what you don’t need. Guilty as charged! I have a hard time even picturing what America would look like if we all lived out that principle! Just imagine. When you go to the store – any store – grocery, hardware, clothes, whatever. That is a principle I need to keep in my mind daily!

Honestly, that made me cringe the first time I read that! Then I thought, would God cringe? Would He cringe at the sight of all we have? Having just moved, really made me think about this. When we were packing up our house, our house wasn’t huge (it was 1051 sq. ft) but man did we collect a lot over the years! As I was cleaning out some drawers, if I were God, I would’ve cringed. I would’ve cringed at the clutter, the unnecessary storing of things I never used. If God would shine a light on my stuff today, would He cringe? I think I’ve got some more work to do :).

I thought this was an interesting concept! With our financial situation right now, this wouldn’t work, but I like the idea! I think even setting up a thought pattern like this, would be good. Not that you can’t add to it, but making sure that giving is a priority – much like we plan for everything else!

What a beautiful word picture! God has given us His gorgeous world that He shows Himself in (general revelation), and yet daily I do not spend enough time in it! Are you tuning in?

I recently read a book that my friend Tracie let me borrow called The Last Child in the Woods. If you haven’t read it, I would highly recommend it! I read it while we were on our retreat (which was great timing b/c we spent most of our time IN nature on that trip). The whole basis of the book is that children are growing up, NOT in nature. There are restrictions left and right, that are not allowing children to grow up in the freedom of nature. If this is true, then are we “closing” the eyes of children (and our own) by not taking them out into the world that God created for US?

So TRUE! It’s simple – the more we have, the more time it takes to maintain them, which becomes less time for everything else. It’s simple mathematics – but how easily we fail at realizing the equation!

When Dan and I were planning a life with kids, we often thought about this. I don’t know if “attractive” would be the word I would choose, but we wanted to set up a lifestyle where home was a place the kids felt comfortable. Where kids wanted their friends to come over to. A place of rest. A place of retreat. A place of love. A place of unclutteredness. Unfortunately we don’t have a chance to implement some of our thoughts, but we hope to one day!

How DOES technology influence our lives? How does it influence yours? Look around your house. I did that one day and looked at all of the technological “stuff” we have. Do we need them all? If not, what role do they play in our life? I look at our Wii. Do we play it a lot? Not a ton. Does it take over our life? No. Is it a system that is doing more harm than good? No. So we kept it. Dan and I discussed me getting a phone that had texting so I could text more with our youth group kids. Did I need it? No. Didn’t get one. Best choice thus far! I honestly love not being available 24/7. I have a cell phone, but select few have my cell number – by choice. We now use Dan’s cell as our main number (obviously had to get rid of our land line for now). Little choices that for me, make a huge difference in my life.

What about emails? I have two email addresses – one for “businesses” like for ordering things off the internet or for paying bills, etc., then another one for my personal emails. The one for “businesses” is my old one from high school. I realized I was getting SO MANY “junk” emails from these random places. So annoying! It was out of control – so, I spent a few days, when I had a few minutes, to not delete them right away, but to open them and intentionally unsubscribe from them ALL. It is time consuming, but after a week of weeding through them, by the next week, all I had left were the ones I cared about. Take the time to filter! Take the time to unsubscribe! It is worth it and will save you more hassle and time in the end!I hope you gained a little insight how to live “almost Amish” and that as you live life, you take time to reflect on the little things in life, that end up making a HUGE difference in the end!