Attachment to stuff brings suffering

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Growing up my step father was a business man. He owned a concrete company. As a grown up (and a Realtor) I understand what a rollercoaster the housing industry can be. Sometimes money was abundant and sometimes there was none.  He was the husband to my mother, who is a rollercoaster herself. Her drug addictions and brokenness caused a lot of havoc in our home. Some days I would come home from school to find our house tore apart and my mother nowhere to be found. Other times I would come home to gifts on my bed; clothing, perfume, books, cd’s anything my mother thought I would like. The home was cleaned and dinner on the stove. It was these times that I knew the world was “right”. Tonight I would sleep well because Momma was happy. The last few years has taught me a lot about stuff, the importance of holding on and letting go. My journey through Ecclesiastes the last few weeks has been teaching me about the meaningless of so many things. One being stuff. Yes, again. It’s been through these morning times I realized I am still attached to stuff. After all this time I still struggle with it. My eyes are never satisfied. My closet is never full enough. I want more and forget about all that I have. My view on stuff is distorted. Gathering stuff makes me feel like everything is right in the world. I realize cramming my day full of stuff to do and my closet full of clothing is not going to satisfy. It’s futile. Meaningless. Unless my days are for God. Unless my stuff is for God. Than it’s all meaningless, a chasing after the wind. If the words of my mouth are not of encouragement and said in love, meaningless. If my work is for my advancement and the money used for more stuff, meaningless. If my time is spent coveting things on Pinterest and my eyes feasting on others’ lives on Facebook, meaningless. My stuff is not what makes me. If I am only happy when I have stuff, then I feel good when I have it and horrible when I don’t. This makes life meaningless. God does not look at me and see my stuff. He does not say “Well Misty that car you drive and those designer shoes you have on make you special. “  No, "God cares more about more character than my comfort" ~ Bryan Hurlbutt  I have come to realize that if my bank account is full and the fridge is stuffed to the brim this does not mean that I have God’s approval. If I am lacking, this is not a sign of God’s disfavor.   I am learning to be owned by nothing. I am learning to detach from this world and attach more and more each day to my Savior. Here is where I learn the secret to being content in any and every situation. {Philippians 4:12} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Over the next year I will be working on letting go of more stuff. ·        Clothing. I will be going through the closet again. I have decided to lessen my footprint on this world. This year I will buy only second hand. That’s right. If I feel that something is really missing from my closet, I will be headed to Saver’s or the Goodwill. This helps local charities, supplies locals with jobs and lessens the landfills. It will make me second guess next time I see that sweet little shirt online. ·        Storage Units. The “big scare” made me second guess all of the stuff I have hoarded in a storage unit. If I can’t name what’s in there… I don’t need it. I will be going through these units and getting rid of the unnecessary. ·        Feasting my eyes. This December I took a break from Facebook and found myself on Pinterest… too much. Time limit. That’s how I will fix that. ·        My story. I am going to let my fingers flow more this year. I won’t be posting every time on Facebook. Just here on my little part of the web. Letting God redeem my ugly. ·        I am open to whatever God shares with my heart that needs to be given up.     Here is to a new year of letting go and detaching !

Growing up my step father was a business man. He owned a concrete company. As a grown up (and a Realtor) I understand what a rollercoaster the housing industry can be. Sometimes money was abundant and sometimes there was none.  He was the husband to my mother, who is a rollercoaster herself. Her drug addictions and brokenness caused a lot of havoc in our home. Some days I would come home from school to find our house tore apart and my mother nowhere to be found. Other times I would come home to gifts on my bed; clothing, perfume, books, cd’s anything my mother thought I would like. The home was cleaned and dinner on the stove. It was these times that I knew the world was “right”. Tonight I would sleep well because Momma was happy.

The last few years has taught me a lot about stuff, the importance of holding on and letting go. My journey through Ecclesiastes the last few weeks has been teaching me about the meaningless of so many things. One being stuff. Yes, again.

It’s been through these morning times I realized I am still attached to stuff. After all this time I still struggle with it. My eyes are never satisfied. My closet is never full enough. I want more and forget about all that I have. My view on stuff is distorted.

Gathering stuff makes me feel like everything is right in the world.

I realize cramming my day full of stuff to do and my closet full of clothing is not going to satisfy. It’s futile. Meaningless.

Unless my days are for God. Unless my stuff is for God. Than it’s all meaningless, a chasing after the wind. If the words of my mouth are not of encouragement and said in love, meaningless. If my work is for my advancement and the money used for more stuff, meaningless. If my time is spent coveting things on Pinterest and my eyes feasting on others’ lives on Facebook, meaningless.

My stuff is not what makes me. If I am only happy when I have stuff, then I feel good when I have it and horrible when I don’t. This makes life meaningless.

God does not look at me and see my stuff. He does not say “Well Misty that car you drive and those designer shoes you have on make you special. “  No, "God cares more about more character than my comfort" ~ Bryan Hurlbutt

 I have come to realize that if my bank account is full and the fridge is stuffed to the brim this does not mean that I have God’s approval. If I am lacking, this is not a sign of God’s disfavor.  

I am learning to be owned by nothing. I am learning to detach from this world and attach more and more each day to my Savior. Here is where I learn the secret to being content in any and every situation. {Philippians 4:12}

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Over the next year I will be working on letting go of more stuff.

·        Clothing. I will be going through the closet again. I have decided to lessen my footprint on this world. This year I will buy only second hand. That’s right. If I feel that something is really missing from my closet, I will be headed to Saver’s or the Goodwill. This helps local charities, supplies locals with jobs and lessens the landfills. It will make me second guess next time I see that sweet little shirt online.

·        Storage Units. The “big scare” made me second guess all of the stuff I have hoarded in a storage unit. If I can’t name what’s in there… I don’t need it. I will be going through these units and getting rid of the unnecessary.

·        Feasting my eyes. This December I took a break from Facebook and found myself on Pinterest… too much. Time limit. That’s how I will fix that.

·        My story. I am going to let my fingers flow more this year. I won’t be posting every time on Facebook. Just here on my little part of the web. Letting God redeem my ugly.

·        I am open to whatever God shares with my heart that needs to be given up.  

  Here is to a new year of letting go and detaching !