After we moved into our home, I found myself overwhelmed with all the stuff! I was surrounded with knick-knack after knick-knack, picture after picture, and dish after dish! It was as if I were suffocating from all the clutter, I couldn’t breathe! After renting several places over the period of five years, I had become used to living with just the bare necessities. It was a lot less stressful and much more calming to live with less; to have less to care for and less to store.
Why is it that we spend all our time, energy and money on stuff, just to have it end up in cabinets, closets, and attics crammed full? We spend a lifetime collecting things which our children are just going to haul off to the Goodwill. If we could only understand the more we own, the more it owns us! I have been in enough homes to know that some of the stress women are feeling is due to all the stuff they have. Between our overcrowded cluttered homes and over committed schedules, stress for women is mounting!
When Mark and I found ourselves on a road that God chose for us and were forced to go almost three years without a salary, I did not shop. Christmas money, gift cards and birthday money was all I had to buy any new clothing items. God showed me so much during that time. He showed me that I had plenty of clothes; I just needed to be more creative in putting them together. Prior to this journey, I used shopping to make me feel better and to fill empty time. God showed me that my spending was out of control; I had not allowed the Holy Spirit total control in that area of my life, lest He ruin all my fun!! What I thought was fun, was actually an exercise in wasting time and money. I was not honoring to my husband in spending so much of the money he worked so hard to provide for us.
A few weeks ago, I was returning some gift items to T. J. Maxx. As I was standing in line, I noticed the two women in front of me with their arms full of clothing. One had several really cute long sleeved t-shirts that caught my eye. I immediately stepped out of line and darted for the racks of shirts. As I approached the loaded down racks, I sensed the Holy Spirit asking, “What are you doing? Do you need any more clothes?” I thought for a second, and said, “No! I don’t need any more clothes. In fact Lord, you and I know that I have not even worn everything in my closet for this winter. No. I have no need for looking through all these shirts.” I turned, got back in line, made my returns and then headed straight for my car.
It has been said that shopping is cheaper than therapy. Some women even view it as therapy. I beg to differ with that statement. Shopping is not always cheaper and contrary to what most women believe, it is certainly not therapy. Once you’ve spent money you didn’t need to be spending, have a house full of stuff with no place to put it, and are continually battling a spirit of discontentment, then you will need therapy or an organizer to help put order and simplicity back into your life. Shopping is often an activity that is the result of boredom, a lack of self-control, and comes out of a spirit of discontentment.
Just how much stuff do you need? Is your house cluttered? Do you find yourself a slave to all the things you own? Is the stress in your life mounting as a result of feeling that you cannot manage all that you’ve collected? Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to control every aspect of your life, including your spending? Is there anything that you can honestly say is a dire need in your life?
Father, I am so grateful that You desire total control of our lives, even in the area of how we spend our money. How thankful I am for the still quiet, yet powerful, voice of your Holy Spirit. I want more than anything to obey when He says, “No, you do not need that.” Help me to be a content, self-controlled, spirit-filled pleasing daughter of Yours.
“Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.” Philippians 4:11
“The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.” Proverbs 21:20
“Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold.” Proverbs 22:1
“Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.” Matthew 19:21-22