Ramblings of a tired and occasionally self righteous dweeb

"Do not store up treasures on earth. . . "
A phrase that violates the very spirit of capitalism, one of the foundations of the American way of life. There is a lot of power behind this simple phrase. The rest of the passage goes on to talk about the fact that things here on earth eventually decay, and besides, you can't take them with you anyway. They are temporary at best. In the past i have read this and interpreted it as accumulation of wealth and possession on this side of life corrupts, that it is unfair that some have while others do not, that the hunt for more distracts from our pursuit of God, that possession creates a false sense of security and self reliance. i would like to add one more item to this list. Possessions are time consuming. They eat up so much darned time. Amy and i just bought a house last spring. Things seemed well, and i had grand plans of my paradise and how productive it would be and how i would use it to fulfill my plans. Intro nature. . . 9 months, two flooded basements (a finished basement mind you), a mildew issue, a broken furnace and a slew of other fun things later. . . i am still trying to attempt to order a few spare moments into life. Don't let me scare prospective home buyers away. It really is a joy. i love my castle. However, with two kids and number three on the way, i wonder what i could do with all those weekends that are spent doing demolition and maintenance. All that being said, with possession comes responsibility (or sometimes there is consumption of time for the good of no one - ask someone with an X-box). Possession in and of itself is not evil - but be mindful of how it consumes your time, and ask yourself what could i have been doing with my time to make the world a better place. How could i have been helping the poor, feeding the hungry, loving the sick, encouraging the fatherless. . . and so on. It may feel good to own things, but ask yourself why it is that you were born into such priviledge while others are starving, or without a home. It is good to keep life in perspective - not one of us is better than anyone else. We may be better educated, or funnier, or better spoken, but in the end we are just alike.