I shall be veering from my regular format for the next few weeks.

Why?

I said YES to a short-term mission trip!  Saturday the 12th I leave for Guatemala.  I will be traveling with another nurse, a dentist, a doctor, and a pastor.  Both this week and next my blog will address 6 ways that mission trips are supposed to change lives.  (gulp)  Okay – I went into this thing with eyes wide open and with no expectations.  But I really think it’s gonna surprise me.  I am writing next week’s blogs THIS week and will have to show Ted how to post these for you to read while I’m gone.  And then, I plan to go over these 6 reasons again when I return – to see how things changed for me.

According to Seth Barnes*, the fourth way that a short-term mission trip will change my life is by revealing my materialism.

Oh puh-lease.

The mess in the basement?  That is not MY stuff – it is my husbands!  The stuff in the attic?  Well, it belongs to me … and Ted … and some of it belongs to my adult children.

Yes, my closet is full.  So are the kitchen cupboards.  And my pantry is a mess – (but some people probably don’t even have a pantry of food to rely on.)

<sigh>

Yes – Americans as a whole have too much stuff … we tend to be materialistic … we have stuff … because we do … and we can.  Seth Barnes says that “to reach our destinies, we need more simplicity, not stuff.”  Amen to that!

I sometimes feel that when my house is cluttered, it makes my life feel more cluttered.  When my house is organized and tidy – it actually has a calming effect on me.  So even though you may be like me – and try to keep things tidy and not too overstuffed with stuff – I am sure that my perception will change dramatically after I spend some time in Guatemala and get a ‘worldview’ of materialism.  I will probably be embarrassed when I see how little these people have compared to the quantity of stuff in my possession.

Do we really need all the toys that cram our closets and garages?  Do we need to shop as much as we do?  If our houses were to burn down – what would we try to save from the fire?

Just Laurel

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Luke 12:15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 

 

 

*Posted in Short-term Missions by Seth Barnes on 10/19/2010