Our community has a buy and sell page that is quite busy. The other day I was picking up something from a lady whom I'd contacted online. Let's just call her Dee. She offered some Christmas decorations for a friend that I was collecting for.
When I arrived, she told me to go back and turn off the van, this was gonna take a while.
Ahem.
I walked into her home and it was unreal. There was garland on every inch of the ceiling, Christmas collector plates lined every wall, like wallpaper. There were Santas, angels, snowmen, Christmas trees, poinsettias, you name it, crammed into a very tiny kitchen and dining room. There was not an inch of leftover space. I think my eyebrows disappeared into my hairline- it was that crazy.
Dee proceeded to show me some of the things she was giving to me, to pass on- all of which filled 7 boxes and giant gift bags. Some things were crafts she had made, some were brand new, some were re-gifts.
I thanked her profusely, as she began to tell me how she was 'getting rid of stuff.' I looked around and wondered where she had put the things she was now getting rid of. She told me about how her mom had been in a home, and for fun, she would watch the shopping channel, and buy things. Dee said that when her mom passed away, she had been horrified at the thousands of dollars of things that were still in their shipping packages. I nodded, feeling sad that her mother had felt the need to spend on useless (at least to her) things.
After a while, Dee began to tell me about her home. She told me that she and her husband each had rooms full of 'quality' things. He had Gretzky paraphernalia, she had Elvis stuff. It was autographed, and important. Not 'junky stuff'.
Before I left, she handed me a smaller gift bag, and picked up a box from it. It was the ornament in the picture with me. "This is for you, because I knew from your picture that you had glasses."
I hope that's the only resemblance. I think the ornament is supposed to be 'Mrs. Claus', but I can't be sure. It's horrible. I almost left it in the box to give as a joke gift to someone, or to donate, but then thought the better of it.
Every year when I take that ornament out, I'm going to remember AGAIN that stuff will never make me happy.
Stuff is temporal. It's not going to last.
It can rot, burn, be stolen, get lost.
I will remember that lady's house, filled with tacky (although costly) fake Christmas spirit and garlands that hung without really celebrating anything at all. A lovely woman that talked about how sad it was to collect 'things', but spent her life doing just that.
I will count my blessings, and praise God for the reason behind our celebration.
It's not about the stuff.
P.S. I totally get that I'm cycling this mantra, but it keeps coming up. Maybe I need to hear it again and again, but maybe so do some of you. :) Hugs. Char
3 comments:
This lady just messaged me wanting to know the girl's name we were giving to. She asked why she didn't deliver it herself and wanted to see how much she liked the things. The very first line of our first correspondence was her telling me how generous she was. I think that generosity is incredibly selfishly motivated. She is now giving away her stuff so she can feel better about herself and her life. I wonder if she'll ever learn that she is loved and cherished not because of what she does/has or gives, but because of who she is.
Looking for love in all the wrong places. :(
Too funny about the ornament.
About the lady with too much stuff...it just goes to show that without God there is a void and she is filling it with Christmas stuff (and who knows what else) She sounds lonely to me.
Remember the Veggie Tales movie about Madame Blueberry told by the french peas? Totally it.
Chrisie
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