Materialism's lure
I've been doing quite a bit of blog-surfing. I know there's a lot of posts today, but I'm on leave from tomorrow till the weekend, so I think I must be subconsciously trying to make up for the future lack of content! hehehee.
No, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Malaysia. On Sunday, the people in Soulcare decided to go on a little outing this week to "de-stress". Amazingly, I was able to get leave on such short notice (never mind that all my deadlines got pushed up and scrunched into three days instead of five! I'm stressing myself out so that I'll be able to de-stress later how crazy is THAT??! LOL). So I'm off tomorrow, don't expect any posts till Monday! *grin*
Now, where was I? Oh yes, I've been doing a little bit of blog surfing. I was able to get into Who Links Who again today, I'm so pleased!! I saw this quote from The Gutless Pacifist on Jason Evans' blog, My Valentine:
- I recently heard Stanley Hauerwas in person -- he was speaking on interfaith dialogue and the fear that some Christians have in entering into dialogue with others. He mentioned that he hated it when groups asked his opinion on how to start interfaith dialogue. He said, 'Someone will ask me, how do you approach Hindus for dialogue? My response is always the same - you assume Hindus want to be in dialogue with you.' He says at least Hindus are interesting. What in the world will Hindus find interesting about the christians? American Christians might be able to teach them how to shop... but maybe nothing else.
posted on Nov 22, 2002
Recently, Paul at This Christian Life wrote of his struggle with the American dream. He said:
- I hate admitting to myself how addicted I am to wanting the next best thing... a trim yard, a perfect gate, a bigger house, a bigger salary, a new driveway, etc., etc. What I want to know and what I've been wanting a way out of for the last 8 or 9 years is WHY DO I FEEL THIS WAY? Why can't things be just fine they way they are? Because they ARE JUST FINE the way they are. I don't need anything more than what I currently have to live a perfectly healthy life.
Argh. I just don't see a way out. I feel trapped to have to live this life. I don't really enjoy working my brains out every day just to have more things. My salary is more than enough to pay our way through life, but just because the money's in the bank, we spend it.
In the end I sit among all my possessions and realise that they mean nothing. This is something I still struggle with - the accumulation of STUFF. Why can't I be contented? Why can't I manage to save money? To make things worse, I come from a fairly frugal family. My parents think I'm a spendthrift!
One year 1999 I think it was I promised God that I would not buy anything unnecessary for the whole of that year. I made a specific list, so that I wouldn't be tempted to rationalise my way around things. I knew I had more than enough stuff. So I put non-study-related books on the list, clothes, SHOES (always a woman's weakness, LOL), costume jewellery, make-up, bags, cassettes, and anything else I could think of anything of which I already had too much.
It was supposed to be an exercise in self-discipline, a sacrifice to God, if you will. To really, really teach myself that my money is actually His money, and that I'm NOT to spend it however I like, indulging myself and accumulating treasures on earth instead of in heaven.
What actually happened was that I did keep my promise (I took it quite seriously), but every time I saw something I wanted, I could literally feel my heart wrench. To console myself, I'd remind myself, "It's not for ever. If this is still available next year, you can still get it." That kind of defeated the purpose. Needless to say, after the one year was up, my spending habits went back to normal.
Looking back, I realise that I had tried to restrict my actions, without working on my attitudes. The moment the restriction was lifted, I went back to my old ways because I still carried the same old attitudes. What I really had was a heart problem that only God could cure. Part of it was my value system. I think that's why Paul adjured us to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2) it's always hard to remember what really matters, and to remember that material things are NOT it! Material things somehow are a bigger part of our reality than are the eternal, intangible things.
I'm still working at letting God cure my heart problem. I'd like to think I'm making some progress, but it's taking a loooooong time longer, I suspect, because I'm so stubborn! And every once in a while I have a relapse... :(