[Jesus said,] "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."
"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
-Matthew 6:19-20 (NIV)
In the USA, we are wealthy compared to most countries especially those in the third world. Even those who don't consider themselves wealthy hold an abundance of things in their home.
I recently found this pearl of wisdom from a fortune cookie: "The greatest ownership is embracement of emptiness." To me this means that if I am not busy trying to maintain a mountain of possessions then I have time to see all the resources available to me in the greater community. I have more time to spend with other people and interacting with my community. A life of simplicity gives one the wealth of freedom from the possessions that require our time to maintain them. We will also find that a simple life frees one's mind from the burdens of so much clutter.
Once you have obtained the possessions you collect along the way, presents you receive, all the gadgets you buy, the things you gave your children that they left behind as they matured, those things filled with so much sentiment, it is hard to divest yourself of them. You have to maintain them, clean them, store them. Some people even rent storage lockers in which to keep these things. You spend your time and energy dealing with all these many things that you are not even using often if at all. The clutter becomes a distraction.
My goal this year is to go through my "treasures" and find new homes for them where they can be taken out of storage and put to good use. I don't really need so many things and life has a greater sense of peace when there are fewer things to clutter it.
My prayer: Lord, help me to be dilligent to donate everything in my possession that is not needed for my daily life so that others can find use in them and so that my mind and my heart will be freed to focus on what is truly important. Help me learn that "the greatest ownership is embracement of emptiness." Let it be! Amen.
