Excessive

Have you ever realized how we in the United States have so much stuff? It is like we start accumulating from the time we can make our first purchase and continue until we take our last breath. We are hoarders of the unnecessary. I say "we" because I am not on a soap box here, but completely guilty of it myself. This past week I have realized this more and more.


Firstly, I brought two HUGE suitcases for 5 months because I convinced myself that I needed all of my stuff. Well, I'll have you know, other than jeans and a few sweaters...most of it is still in my suitcase or hanging untouched in my small closet. My blow dryer and curling iron, considered essentials amongst most females, was completely unnecessary. I can now get ready in 10 minutes since we are forced to take 3 minute showers (because Australia is in a bad drought); so my 20 minute minimum showers are now considered a luxury. (The girls have a system though. We go as long as we can without taking a shower so we can add 3 minutes each day to our total shower time). Everything here that would be so cheap at a Walmart or Albertsons, such as shampoo & conditioner, groceries, just a small cup of coffee is so expensive here...well you learn to live with the essentials. My constant Starbucks or even drip coffee cravings have been replaced with Nestle Instant Coffee. A gallon of milk has been traded for UHT milk, which is a non-refrigerated milk carton of "milk" that is drinkable for up to 100 days. Fruit and veg that is ripe is hard to find, and buying chicken is like ordering a T-bone steak or Lobster; meaning, you only get it on special occasions. So sausages, white bread, and cereal have become my best friend. But you know what, I am healthy and totally content. I have so little, but really I have so much.


This also makes me think about how we are always waiting for that "rainy day" to come, when we will need all of the stuff that until then has just been collecting dust. We save money, we store, we plan. Sometimes I wonder if all of our planning isn't just the outpour of constant worrying or fatalism. I personally don't want to live a life in constant fearing of the worst and doing everything in my power to prepare for it. If I did that, really, I would be putting God in a box. My entire life, and other people's lives, I have always seen Him provide. I have been in seasons where we had hardly anything, and times of great prosperity and God always given us exactly what we needed. In fact, God even promises in the Bible that He will work good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28) and that He takes care of the birds in the sky and we are far more precious to Him than mere birds(Matthew 6:26)...so why am I worried about Him forgetting about me? God, since the beginning of time has sacrificed for us, to help us, to make sure we were totally taken care of. After Adam and Eve sinned, God committed the first sacrifice by killing animals so that they could use the skin for clothing because they were naked. God committed the last sacrifice too, He sacrificed his son, Jesus so that we could have spend an eternity in Heaven...a blessing we did not deserve. So if Jesus made provisions for me in the beginning and has my eternity taken care of...why do I spend all this time worrying about today and tomorrow and where I'll be in 10 years from now?


I'm not saying we should all just sit around in static laziness, we need to be proactive. But really we should live with eternity in mind and not distract ourselves and depleat our savings with things that really, in the end, are just stuff.