Morning Ramble

The morning sun is shining through the windows bringing to the room a kind of refreshing newness. A lightness, in both senses of the word. It almost seems as if the word light, with both its meanings, really works together. We have been watering our front lawn a little bit this summer and its so green. Verdant works well to describe it. Words are wonderful, they open additional ways of describing things.

Last night while laying in bed, waiting for sleep to arrive, I thought about how many times I have said that I don't much like what having lots of money does to me. It makes me want more things. The more you have, the more you want to buy. An example, when the fridge you have works fine, but you see this big, actually huge new one in the store that has so many wonderful features you find it easy to want it. You don't need it, you simply want it. If you have the money in hand, its really easy to just buy it, because you WANT it, nothing to do at all with need.

The problem is, there is always something better than what you presently have ! Emery and I walked by the new refrigerators at Sears yesterday when we were at the Mall and I suddenly felt like my fridge was so old and so plain and even makes it hard to see whats in the back of the shelves, so food gets "lost" this new fridge, well its got nicer shelving, maybe we would not find something growing penicillin if we had the new improved fridge ! The mind works hard to justify things we want. Need is simple, no justification. It is what it is.

Emery and I have decided that maybe life was easier in some respects when we lived from paycheck to paycheck. The very serious side of all this is, that for us, reaching out to others in need has to be a greater desire in our hearts than up-scaling, getting more than we need, etc. If you see your sister or brother in need, yet you still go after the things you want but don't need, then perhaps that is the very thing Jesus is speaking about when he tells about how hard it is for a rich man to get into heaven. We can loose sight of what compassion is when we are so busy seeking after the latest and best things that are just plain WANTS.

We live in a consumer world, a place where self worth is often measured by how much we own and how big, or new it is. Where its normal to be seeking personal wants above the needs of others. Not talking wants here, but the NEEDS of others. Big difference.

So much of the time, we buy things we get tired of, because it was just a want, not a need and it ends up in storage, in the attic, in the basement or sent off to Goodwill. I honestly want to guard myself from that sort of cycle of want then don't want.