PRACTICE: Take 3 minutes or 30 if needed! List 3 things you could give to someone to make their life a little easier. Don’t overthink it! Do it – right now!
I live in a city that is exploding! A new high-rise apartment/condominium is being built on every corner with the first few floors designated as garage space. Small or “skinny house” as the locals call them, are literally popping up everywhere. One of the other phenomena that has occurred with this explosion are huge and sometimes beautiful, climate-controlled storage buildings. This is the scenario that I and my family has imagined: an individual moves to town and finds living space that they can afford. The space is too small to accommodate their accumulated stuff. Rather than give away the excess (bless someone else), the individual invests more resources in additional housing for said stuff – a storage unit (biblical building of a bigger barn). You might spin a different tale, but this works for us. I am not judging – just making an observation. BUT
One of the things I have learned about my observations is that I am always in the story. My observations are never for others only. Within the four walls of my home, one will find two (2) refrigerators, a beverage cooler, and a deep freezer. I live on a permanent bases (we often have house guest) with one other adult. Why do I need two refrigerators and a deep freezer?
I have the same challenge as the renters of storage units – too much stuff and too much attachment to it. Instead of leaving perishable items in the grocery store, buying what I need when I need it for consumption and freeing financial resources to help the hunger pains of local children, I store food in freezers and refrigerators in my home. I am not judging others, I am judging me. When is enough – enough. I can trust that the resources that have supplied my needs in past, will continue, so why do I (dare I say we) hold so tightly to what I have. Holding on to the excess requires my time, effort, and resources, all of which have the potential to be used for the greater good of humankind…making my world and yours a little bit more well-balanced and fulfilling. “A hit dog will holler every time.” I am hollering “enough is enough!”
Luke 12:18 (read the entire parable if time allows)
PONDER THIS THOUGHT – Holding on to stored stuff is a sign of lack of trust.
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