Things

Things upon the mantle. Things on every shelf. Things that others gave me. Things I gave myself. Things I've stored in boxes. That don't mean much anymore. Old magazines and memories, behind the attic door.

Things on hooks & hangers. Things on ropes and rings. Things I guard that blind me to the pettiness of things. Am I like the Rich Young Ruler Ruled by all I own? If Jesus came & asked me, could I leave them all alone?

Oh Lord, I look to heaven beyond the veil of time to gain eternal insight that nothing's really mine. And to only ask for daily bread and all contentment brings. To find freedom as your servant in the midst of all these things.

For discarded in the junkyard, rusting in the rain, lie things that took the finest years of lifetimes to obtain. And whistling through these tombstones, the hollow breezes sing a song of dreams surrendered to the tyranny of things.

I read those lyrics earlier today in some stuff about "living a globally significant lifestyle". I was reminded how easy it is to get caught up in the "stuff" in life. You don't even realize it. I remember getting home from Africa and not even being able to go to the mall without crying over the reality of American materialism. . . life here has so many more choices. And the more we get the more we want. How do you break the cycle?
Something I read from John Piper comes back to me. . . "life is in the moments". That's how we learn. We can read a whole book, but it's a sentence that changes our lives. Proof from the life of John Wesley:

While at Oxford, an incident changed his perspective on money. He had just finished paying for some pictures for his room when one of the chambermaids came to his door. It was a cold winter day, and he noticed that she had nothing to protect her except a thin linen gown. He reached into his pocket to give her some money to buy a coat but found he had too little left. Immediately the thought struck him that the Lord was not pleased with the way he had spent his money. He asked himself, Will thy Master say, "Well done, good and faithful steward"? Thou hast adorned thy walls with the money which might have screened this poor creature from the cold! O justice! O mercy! - Are not these pictures the blood of this poor maid?

Check out the whole article (life changing) here.