Hoarding, Collecting, and Stuff – Learning to let go!

You’ve heard the story about the couple who retired and lived the remainder of their life collecting stuff. . . whether it is glassware, seashells, or Christmas decorations.  “It’s the American Dream” they say.  What a shame!  Today people spend millions of dollars on stuff.  Stuff, they waste their God given life collecting stuff. . . it makes you want to cry.

So how do we resist this consumer driven society?  Titus 2:12 tells us to “deny worldly desires and live sensibly, righteously, and godly”.  Is this possible?  What happens when you come to the end of your life and you appear before your Creator and all you have to show Him is your stuff?  “Here Lord. . . my life’s work. . . my stuff!”

Several things have happened recently that have convicted me about our stuff.  Please don’t get me wrong. . . we’re not hoarders. . . but we have stuff.  It feels that all our time an attention goes to keeping our stuff clean, orderly, and repaired.  The things that really matter get put aside so we can take care of our stuff.  It’s not right.

Just a few months ago, a wealthy acquaintance passed away and left. . . nothing but old, tattered, stuff.  It was a sad ending to his life.  How much more could he have done in life?  Just after that happened, I was involved in moving  some family friends.  They had 28+ years of stuff. . . it was obvious that they loved their stuff. . . and it was obvious that their stuff had taken over their life.  Their precious stuff was collecting dust and mold in storage. . . but yet they couldn’t part with it.

Let’s fight against the cultural norm of stuff. . . get rid of it!  If you don’t use it pass it on, or sell it and put that money to good use.  Don’t spend your life chasing stuff, because in the end. . . that is all you will leave behind.  I hope to appear before my Creator at the end of my life and hear “Well done”  not “Why did you give so much time and energy to your stuff”.