We all have stuff. And when I say “stuff,” I mean material possessions as well as all the other “stuff” that fills our lives, like work, meetings, kids’ soccer games, family obligations, hobbies, whatever. Stuff. Lots of it. And there’s nothing wrong with most of these things in and of themselves until they start demanding more attention than is physically, mentally and spiritually healthy to give them. It’s all okay until, as songwriter Rich Mullins sang in his song If I Stand, “the stuff of earth competes for the allegiance I owe only to the giver of all good things.”
And that’s the problem, of course. Stuff just won’t let us be. Stuff asks us to pay attention. And perhaps most dangerously, stuff demands more stuff. So it’s up to us how we view our stuff. We can see it all as our “just rewards,” the stuff we earn through hard work, the stuff that must be protected from others’ greedy hands at all costs. Or we can see our stuff for what it really is – a gift from “the giver of all good things,” objects and opportunities that at their best can enable us to live full, rich lives in response to God’s call and in service to those around us.
Ask yourself in silence: How do I view my stuff and what do I do with it? Does any of my stuff compete with my allegiance to God?
That’s right Steve, if we ‘can see our stuff for what it really is – a gift from “the giver of all good things”, then we will truly be ‘Unencumbered by Baggage’! I will not forget this book by Carlos Valles, on the ‘Intimate Biography of Anthony De Mello, S.J.’, which was so helpful during my long struggle with “Desolation”!
Regards,
Anthony.
Steve – thank you for the reminder. Too many times, our stuff takes our mind off of God. Living more simply is part of the story, but how do we relate it to those less fortunate than us and how to do we apply our extra time and space is more essential.