No doubt I have an addictive bent towards stuff. I like pretty things and decorating and looking nice to the point that I can let it determine how I feel. When I like the way I look or my house looks, I feel good, when I don't like it I can feel grumpy or blah. Sadly this tells me that I get far too much meaning from things and looks. Interestingly enough the shopping monster in me has been kept at bay for years due to three small kids in tow (that will cure any shopper), then the demanding schedule of homeschooling (no time for shopping except for a quick run in grab what you need and get out) and now living in England. We live in the northwest corner of England across the mountains and way off the motorway. This means number one that you only come here if you need to, number two that shopping options are at a major low and number three it is so beautiful up here they don't want to ruin it with commercialism. You arent' up here long before you notice that there are no billboards or neon signs, no high rise condos capitalizing on the views and not very many stores. The stores that are here are very small and limited in their inventory; and they close at 5:30 except the grocery store which closes at 8 pm. Now remember that the dollar is very low compared to the British pound - for every pound you spend it is $2. Take all the facts above into account and you can see that we didn't shop much this past year. Therefore I went home armed with empty suitcases with the intent to do the year's shopping for 5 people.
You would think this was every girl's dream - a shopping spree! Stores in America even compared to England are loaded. Packaging is at a premium - wants turn into needs in the blink of an eye. The Thompsons are not exempt from this lure. It is suttle and sickening the pull it has on us as a nation and on our family. Our houses are full of things we don't need cluttering our lives and hearts with distractions and consuming our time.
I spent many days of the month in America dashing here and there filling the empty suitcases I brought home to 'save' money and take back a year's worth of school shoes, dress shoes, blue jeans, socks, underwear, contact solution, hair gel and some gifts. Ugh - it left me feeling sick to my stomach on many occasions.
Dennis noticed how indulgent we as a people are. We stop to get gas and buy a drink and snack. Why? Because we are famished? No, because we want one and we can so we do. Our kids want to go to the movies or to some other place of entertainment and we let them. Why? Because they are deprived and in need of stimulus? No, because we want to and we can so we do. We buy the latest electronic gadget. Why? Because our lives are not functioning well without it? No, because we want one and we can so we do. Why? What is this doing to us? How is this fooling us into a temporary satisfaction that we think is fulfilling?
Back in college, I spent a summer in the former Soviet Union where it struck me as we talked with other college age kids about a meaningful relationship with Christ, they saw us in America as having it all and if they could also just 'have it all' they too could be happy. They didn't need Jesus - they just needed the freedom and access to stuff. Wow. Was Jesus really enough or was it Jesus+stuff+freedom=contentment and peace? A serious question we all must ask ourselves -especially those of us from the land of stuff.
