by Cynthia Ruff

Created on: December 29, 2009

The Stuff of Foolishness

It can overshadow everything and everyone.  It can take on mammoth proportions overnight or gradually happen over months or years.  It can destroy relationships and ruin careers, and it can alter the meaning of life itself.  It can seem like a friend, a comforter, a savior.  It may even make us feel happy or successful and lead us to believe that we are truly in complete control of our lives.  The feeling could last hours or just minutes.  But the object, the product and the assemblage of them all together or standing alone, will soon have little meaning to us.

Is it not enough that we have hot and cold running water, dozens of appliances and gadgets that do everything, furniture, automobiles, refrigerators stocked with food, and closets filled with clothing and shoes for all seasons and occasions?  What else do we really need, and what is next?

The Foolishness of Stuff

Objects purchased are soon replaced by newer, faster, and more efficient ones.  The buyer rushes to purchase it, perhaps even standing in line for hours and spending his or her last dollar.  The initial joy at being one of the first to own the product soon will begin to fade.  Perhaps it will happen immediately or after we have walked away from the lonely strangers who had stood in line with us.  The consumer goes home with the product, to perhaps a lonely house that is already bursting with possessions, upheaval and messiness, and then wonders why they did it.

Is anything free and irreplaceable?

Yes.  Time and how and with whom we spend it; relationships and the quality of them, and the durability of the lasting and loyal ones.

It is not about being a consumer that is the troubling part, but is it what people are allowing to consume them.  It is the stuff and more stuff that still fails to solve the problems of a troubled relationship, a job, or money concerns, and has really nothing to do with the true meaning and quality of life.

An Alternative

Consider what it would mean to consume faith, hope, love, a simplistic lifestyle and the desire to serve others.  Practically speaking, it would cost so little less in dollars and cents and the reward would be priceless.  It is a different way of enabling ourselves to make the most of life and to find real meaning in the richest way possible.

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