Contentment

It’s hard for me to look at a Range Rover and not want one. Their lines are smooth, they look Uber comfortable, and I feel like I can take on a mountain with it and win. The other morning a Range Rover cut me off on my way to a meeting with a good buddy of mine. I felt everything inside of me tense up. Maybe that was because I was running 10 minutes late to my meeting or maybe it was because he had something that I wanted. It was hunter green, and it was new. The windows were tinted out, and the rims were classy. The only thing that my car and his car have in common is the color of the paint. My rims are not so classy, my windows are not so tinted, and I most certainly could not take on a mountain and win.

Welcome to my internal struggle with materialism. Materialism is the virus that grows inside of you convincing your mind that you need more and more and more. Materialism not only affects your mind, It affects your eyes too. They begin looking around at the things that you already have and it causes you to see them as old and out dated. It’s like a set of contact lenses that magnifies every ding, imperfection, tear, or sign that your stuff hasen’t been unwrapped from their cellophane covering in a long time.

I’m pretty convinced that materialism has been fed to us by the mass market like small pox blankets were to the Native American’s. The more we watch and believe the commercials, the more we itch with the need to buy the latest and the greatest. Be careful my friends! You don’t need to drive what turns you on. You need to drive what gets you there. There is a big difference between need and want. We get those two things mixed up very easily. That’s part of the game of the materialism virus- it makes it harder to keep your head on straight.

Richard Foster writes about the materialism virus. He says this,

This psychosis permeates even our mythology. The modern hero is the poor boy who purposefully becomes rich rather than the rich boy who voluntarily becomes poor. Covetousness we call ambition. Hoarding we call prudence. Greed we call industry.

It is time to set possessions in their proper place. It is time to find joy in the abundant gifts that God has given us. After all Jesus said in Luke 12:15, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” The writer of Hebrews says, “Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never fail you nor forsake you'” (Heb. 13:5)

I’m praying that God shows me that it is more about the people around me than the possessions in my home. I bet I’m not alone in this struggle… Where are you at with it?

~Peter

Today I went out and spent $11.88. I was truly a big spender this morning. I traveled to my local WalMart, and bought my two children their own full fledge pool. How fantastic is that? Seriously, they have their own pool, snack shop, and lifeguard service for a one time deal of $11.88. You too can have this deal if you run, don’t walk, to the closest WalMart. Anyhow, all exageration aside, Tiffany and I decided that it would be fun for our kids to have a little baby pool in the back on our deck. So we went out, and reluctantly I bought this thing. I’m gonna be honest, I wasn’t to thrilled at purchasing this oversized plastic dog dish. But you should have heard Noah when I Jammed it in the back of our cruiser. (aka, minivan) He goes like this,

“OH WOW. WOW. WOW.”

You would have thought that I bought him the moon or something really significant. “It Blue” he says. “It Blue mommy. WOW” So, that cheered me up a little bit. We are driving home, and my wife turns to the kids and in the traditional always excited mommy voice, she says, “Who wants to go swimming when we get home.” I looked over at her, and didn’t even say a thing. I looked back at the road, and knew full well what was ahead of me when I got home. In my mind, things were racing through my block head as to why we shouldn’t fill it up and use it today. It’ll be too cold, it’s to close to lunch/naptime… and all the other reasons I could fabricate. However, I didn’t say anything. First smart move all day.

Well, cut to the chase, we got home and I performed dutifully, I filled the pool, and even heated it for them. I put their slide into the pool and then we let them at it. Well, this was the greatest thing that we could have ever done for both of these kids. They loved it. They went down the slide, splashed water, they were giggling and laughing and having an amazing time.

Well, you know how you learn stuff from your kids. Yeah, well today was one of those moments for me. My kids were living in that moment. They were just laughing and they were focused on the here and the now. They didn’t allow the thought of the ever approaching nap time spoil their fun. They weren’t thinking about what they were going to have to eat for dinner. They weren’t worried about if their pool was as cool as the neighbors pool, or if their swim suit flattered their particular build. No. They lived in the moment. They splashed it up. They laughed and slid into the pool. They taught me a huge lesson.

How often do we sit around and look at other people’s stuff, and say to ourselves, man that would be great. I wish that I had that. My car isn’t as good as theirs. Or if only I looked more like Brad Pitt, or whatever holllywood A lister you long to be. When we do that kind of a thing, we are completely blowing off what God has given us right now, what we have been blessed with today.

For me, I will never forget this day, the day that $11.88 thrilled my kids beyond belief. God has given each of us so much, yet all to often we look at it and say, why isn’t it better? Or more like that persons.

Live in today. Live today to the max. Don’t let tomorrows worries encroach upon all of the fun and blessings that are in front of you right now. Hmm. Sounds almost Biblical huh? Something like, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” (Matthew 6:34)

So, anyhow, I can tell you where to get a sweet deal on a baby pool!

The Virus of More: Confessions of a Materialism Battle

Life Lesson=$11.88