Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Mother (as in maternal parent) (04/24/08)
-
TITLE: Lessons Learned | Previous Challenge Entry
By sue moreland
05/01/08 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
She also has almost any new cleaning product that has ever come out. She tries everything once and than keeps it for “someday, when I might need it again”. And she doesn’t throw out anything, not even old clothes, even when there appears to be nothing left of them. “It is important to keep a good supply for cleaning rags”, she says, or, “Someday I may need the rusty old pan”. Of course that doesn’t explain why she also has all of the latest and greatest gadgets that have been advertised on television.
Should a big wind come up, my folks will be safe. No wind could possibly cause their house to go sailing. It is full of too much stuff and every week she goes to the store and buys more.
My sisters and I laugh and say we know where we will go if there is ever a national famine. We’d have enough for all of our kids and grand kids, too.
While we can laugh at my mothers hoarding habits it gives me pause to think. How much of my own life have I spent gathering things I really don't need? How much of my resources are spend on securing things for just my family? Am I also spending too much energy saving for that rainy day?
“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food , and the body more then clothes. Consider the ravens; They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!”, Jesus told his disciples. He didn't even say it in the form of a parable. He said it in a very matter of fact way, so I'm guessing it was an important message for the disciples. I'm sure he meant it for us today as well. And yet here we are living like we need to pack something away "In case we need it".
He finishes that statement in Luke 12 by saying, "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, or moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also". Boy, that is radical. And here I am as guilty as my mother, holding on to possessions, not truly trusting God for them. Instead I want to enlarge my closet to make room for more stuff. I better stop laughing at my mother and take a hard look in the mirror. What is my treasure and where is my heart?
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
