Guest Author - LeeAnn Bonds
I’m a gadget lover. The next new, handy dandy, ingenious device is always on my want list. Do I need this stuff? Um, no. Will I use it extensively and will it transform the way I live? Despite the advertising hype, no. Will I have to adjust my budget because of acquiring it, and then dust it forever? Ugh, yes.
This year for Christmas my family is buying a water buffalo. Or maybe a goat, or possibly some ducks. We haven’t decided yet, but when our boys come home at Thanksgiving, we will spread some catalogs on the table and make our selection.
We’re not talking LL Bean or Gaiam, obviously. The catalogs I’m saving for that day come from World Vision and Gospel for Asia. The animal we purchase will go to a family in India or Africa. The taglines on these publications read “give a gift, change a life,” and “celebrate Christ, transform lives.” It’s easy to see how the gift of a few chickens could transform the economic life of a destitute family. What’s not so obvious, but just as true, is how such gifts can transform the giver.
Increasingly, I am pierced by passages such as Luke 12:15, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions,” and Philippians 4:11-13, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
I have not yet learned contentment as Paul did. I don’t like to ‘have a little’ or be hungry, and I don’t even handle abundance well. But I’m almost 50 years old, and it’s probably time for me to make some more strides toward maturity. I can’t any longer tolerate the pouty attitude (that I hope doesn’t show on the outside!) that I feel when faced with the necessity to clean and tidy up all my belongings. Even more, I mustn't continue to indulge my tendency to treat myself to new gadgets, books, sweets and accessories beyond all reason. I am my Lord’s slave (voluntarily) and a soldier in His service. Too much luggage is detrimental to my mission.
I need to be light on my feet and nimble of mind. Both will be more within my reach if I streamline my life and pare down the baggage. “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life,” Paul tells us. I’m too consumed, I know it, with the affairs of this life. I don’t think I’m unusual in that failing, but that’s no excuse to be complacent about it.
One tiny step forward: I am determined to let the Spirit of Jesus reign in me more and more. He will help me not to covet more stuff endlessly, and I will do what I know will please Him by redirecting this year’s Christmas savings to sharing His love—in the shape of livestock—with a family on the other side of our fallen planet. What are your Christmas thanksgiving plans?
