Day 9 :: When you cry over stuff

It happened again yesterday.  I was calmly getting dinner ready, excited because I was ahead of schedule and our meal would be prepared before lunchtime.  The two little ones were playing happily and all was well with the world.

C R A S H.

I turned my head and there sat Mason staring blankly at me from the living room recliner with my favorite (new) lamp lying broken on the hearth next to him.

Instantly I began to sob.  And as I carefully picked up the pieces of my precious lamp, my thoughts were all over the place.

Why do kids have to do things like that?  Why do they keep breaking and ruining my stuff?  I loved that lamp.  It was so pretty.  And I got it on clearance.  This is why I should never buy what I really like. This is the second lamp to break in a week.  All of our lamps are broken.  Will I ever have beautiful things?  Why is this so important to me?  It’s just a lamp.  But I loved that lamp. 

Crying over spilled milk.  That’s what some people would call it.  When we use that phrase we mean that we really shouldn’t be crying.  Because who cares if milk gets spilled?

I DO.  

It means I have to use time and energy and effort that I don’t have, to take care of something that should never have happened in the first place.  In the case of a broken lamp it means hard-earned money wasted.  A long-awaited new item destroyed.  A spot in my living room that has no soft light.

That lamp meant something to me.  It had value and purpose.  And I planned on using it for a long time.

So, was it wrong of me to cry over my stuff?

No.

Is it wrong to like our possessions?

No.

Is it wrong to take care of the things we own?

No.

Is it wrong for me to place my worth in my stuff?

Yes.

And this is what I want my girls to learn early on.

Stuff is just stuff.  It won’t last.  It won’t satisfy.

Jesus said it best:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there you heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-20

I want my girls to have hearts that treasure the right things.

Namely, Jesus.

And if Jesus is truly their treasure then they will be given the wisdom to be wise with their resources but not value their things more then they value God’s purposes.  

Much of this will be learned over time as they grow, mature, and experience loss.  But for right now, I’m going to teach them biblical truths about what is truly precious and pray that the Lord would rightly align their hearts.

This is Day 9 in a series “Lessons for my Daughters”.  Click here for a full list of posts in this series.