Stuff.

As I stood in my closet this morning, looking for what to wear for the day, I realized just how many t-shirts I had. And pairs of pants. And socks, and underwear, and jumpers and jammies… it was kind of overwhelming. And while I am extremely grateful to have been afforded the blessing of having so many things, I wondered what it would be like if I only had five t-shirts. Or even two. Not only would I save time, but how much easier it would be to make a decision!

I opened my desk drawer (you know, the black hole where every little random thing eventually makes its home) only to find that I had no less than forty writing pens. Seriously, I could use a different pen every single day for over a month. Why do I have so many pens? I don’t even like writing anything by hand. One or two surely would suffice.

I looked in our kitchen cupboards and found six different cutting boards, three different pairs of tongs, and enough spatulas and knives to offer the Timmy Collection at Target. The interesting thing is that I generally favor one cutting board and two particular knives out of our entire collection. Not that there haven’t been times where a few extra knives or an additional cutting board have not come in handy, but six?

Our culture is one fueled by consumerism—bigger is better and more is, well, more. The more I have, the happier I will be, right? Actually, the more I have, the more room it takes up, and the smaller my personal world becomes. Look, there is nothing wrong with having stuff. I like having stuff, but too much stuff can be a bad thing. It’s amazing how quickly stuff can sneak its way in and eventually overtake us—especially that superfluous stuff that we don’t really need. Walking into Bed Bath and Beyond simply blows my mind. I marvel at just how much stuff—seemingly unnecessary stuff—fills their shelves and hangs from their walls. The kitchen gadget section alone is enough to give me seizures. There are so many specialty gadgets that the average person may only use one time a year, or even once in a lifetime, that it makes me question why I would spend $19.95 on something that will save me one minute of my time while taking up valuable drawer space.

I look at pictures in home magazines or photos of staged rooms on real estate flyers and I think, “Wow, how clean and open that looks. Where’s all the stuff?” While my wife and I keep a neat home and don’t have a terrible amount of clutter (we definitely do not look anything like hoarders, but we’re not minimalists either), there are certainly unnecessary items that we could live without hiding in the basement, the garage, and in random drawers.

But many of us also fill our schedules with stuff. In the same way that the black hole drawer is disastrously full of various clutter, so are the moments of our lives that we allow stuff to occupy. There’s something very freeing about living a minimalist lifestyle—not necessarily selling all of your things and living in a tent in the woods kind of lifestyle, but one in which we have our essentials in order and live free from the grip of stuff. It’s nice to have room to breathe—in our homes, in our thoughts, in our agendas. If I only had five t-shirts, I’d have far more time to do other things than to spend twenty minutes folding loads of laundry. I exaggerate the fact that I only want five shirts; it’s simply an illustration to help make the bigger point. When I consider those who are less fortunate—those whose stuff/happiness ratio is much different than most, I find it easier to view stuff as less important and to more easily be willing to share or give away that stuff which God has entrusted me. It’s all His stuff anyway—I am just a steward of his blessing.

Consider what stuff is really important and what you can eliminate. Give it away, keep it off your calendar, pare down and simplify. Stop stuffing your life with surplus stuff.

On a personal note, my faith teaches me some valuable lessons and imparts to me brilliant wisdom regarding stuff—what treasures are really important, and how I should view such things:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. — Matthew 6:16

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” — Matthew 6:25-34