All those things we thought we needed

One of the interesting things that I used to do when I was in Creston was to wander through the ReRun thrift shop that the parish ran, just to see the interesting things that happen to show up. I always wondered how many items we see and just have to have, because everybody needs multiple devices to slice eggs, strawberries, bananas, etc. when really, a single knife or a mandolin slicer will do it and take up much less space in the cabinets.

We fall into these advertising traps telling us what we have to have, and that having a little plastic gadget that can slice an entire banana in one flip will save us a huge amount of time, and just think of all of the things we can accomplish with that time that we save! Being a “techie” I can find myself falling into this trap. What is the newest gadget? Is it going to be so much faster? Are we going to save time or to add convenience? I realized that I have lots of different devices, including my watch, lights, and stereo that can connect to the internet. Do I need all of these things? Of course not! Do I need to be able to turn my kitchen lights on in the house from my phone? Of course not, but these things are kind of fun to have.

One of the things that I really like to do with technology is to pray with it. Since I almost always carry my cell phone, I can have prayer apps on it and set reminders about times to pray. When I look at the sheer volume of items that went through the thrift shop, I see how effective advertising really is. It has convinced us to get this stuff and when we realize that we really do not need it, off it goes to the thrift store!

How many items do all of us still have in our cabinets that we purchased on a whim and used once or twice and then put them away forever, put them in a garage sale, or ended up giving them away? We have lots of stuff. Stuff in the end is just stuff and we can get by with far less of it most of the time. The whole point of advertising is to tell us what we are lacking, but if we have our faith, in reality, we lack nothing.

As Jesus says, “be rich in the things that matter in heaven and not necessarily the things of the earth.” Then we will truly be happy with Him. The things of the world will pass away, but the riches in heaven will never pass away. Where do we look for treasure, that new item that will be old and worthless later, or God?

God bless,
Fr. Ken