Stuff

I find that I like stuff! So do the rest of the people who inhabit my little corner of the world. I went shopping last night, Thanksgiving evening, the evening that used to be reserved for games with the family punctuated with frequent trips into the kitchen for just one more bite of turkey or pie, or quiet drives down the road to visit with neighbors. This evening that always has been such a personal time for being grateful, going on visits and building relationships, has been stolen from us. I participated in the death of Thanksgiving today. I joined the masses. It was crazy town. People so crowded together you couldn't even walk. Crockpots piled high in carts along with barbies and movies. It was funny and sad all at the same time. I mean really, are you giving a crockpot to everyone on your list just because they are $10? And I was there, with my 2 movies in hand, waiting in the lines, waiting to get my share of stuff.
We went to a second location last night, we looked at the parked cars stretching so much farther out than we had ever seen them before and wondered at the spectacle of it all. I am sad to say we sat in the parking lot for a half hour waiting on the opening of the doors before we came to our senses and drove out of the crowd to our beds. The deals on all that stuff just isn't worth all that work and chaos. It is just a crock pot after all. And a $10 crock pot at that.
As I awoke this morning after a refreshing 5 hours of sleep, (yes we will shop today, hoping the masses from last night left just a morsel of sale items for us), I reflected upon the mayhem from the previous evening and I am left wondering what drives us to seek so much stuff? And what a wonder it would be if we sought God with the same diligence and single mindedness that we seek a sale on things that will be forgotten tomorrow. What a thought, people crowding together in worship and awe seeking to get something from God. What things would He have for us? A blessing? Deeper faith? A glimpse of our value? A gentle word? Love declared with a shout? The understanding, finally, that we matter? A real abiding knowledge that He sees us, he loves us, he has purpose for us, he desires to fill us with things far greater than any stuff we can get on a wild sale in the middle of a holiday night? Oh Lord, give me that burning, a longing for You, that I would seek You first, diligently, in the middle of the nights, in the early hours, in every breath, that my desire is for You. Give this to us all.