| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “Change can be good for you” Our Bible verse for today: “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because one’s life is not in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Do you need to get rid of some stuff? Did you know that Americans spend $39.5 billion per year to rent storage units? The average renter pays $89 per month per unit. The total square feet of rentable storage space for private individuals (not including space for commercial purposes) is 1.7 billion square feet. Why do we need all that storage space? What are we putting in there and why? Well, we need it because we have run out of storage space in our homes. Our closets, shelves, attics, garages, and sheds are already full of stored stuff we’re not using. So, we rent 1.7 billion square feet of additional space so we can store more stuff that we’re not using (and probably never will again). And what is it that we’re storing in all that space? Stuff. Just stuff. Old clothes, old dishes, old furniture, and old bicycles. Old tools, old files, old … stuff. It’s just stuff. It’s that exercise equipment that was going to make you look like a celebrity with a personal trainer but which you stopped using three weeks after New Year’s Day ten years ago. And why do we keep it? Because we’re hoarders. And because we think we might use it again someday (you won’t). And because we just like the feeling of owning lots of stuff, even if we don’t use it. Five years ago Linda and I did a dramatic downsizing of our lives. We exchanged our five-bedroom 3000 square foot home for a two-bedroom 1400 square foot home, and we got rid of approximately 70% of everything we owned. That was five years short years ago. During this time of isolation and social distancing one of our projects was to clean out our closets, shelves, garage, and shed, (I still have the attic to do). I was amazed at how much stuff we had already accumulated that we weren’t using and needed to get rid of (again). That’s actually a story I’m hearing over and over again from numerous people. During this time of being shut-down and shut-in many people are cleaning-up and clearing-out. They’re downsizing and getting rid of a lot of stuff they no longer use and therefore no longer need. Some of it needs to be thrown away. But much of it is still usable and can therefore be used by someone else – if you would just let go of it. As Jesus taught in Luke 12:15, your life is not measured by the quantity of things you’ve managed to accumulate over the years. The more time we spend in our homes right now the more we become aware of the fact that most of us have too much stuff and we need to get rid of some of it. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow. We’re going to talk about the disorder known as “conspicuous consumption”, and whether you own your stuff or if your stuff owns you. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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