Stuff

My husband reads from the book Men of Integrity each morning.  I am going to write what he read today because it says so much of how we both feel about STUFF!   

Between Two Rooms

Many years ago, while attending a conference in another state, I rented a car and drove to a retirement home to visit my aged grandmother.  Because of her advance years, her hearing and sight were almost entirely gone.  Her homey room contained a bed, a chair, and maybe a TV but little else.  With her life restricted by the effects of old age and poor health, all she needed now could be contained in a single, uncluttered room with a couple of furniture pieces.

The visit jolted me.  I thought of how parents come home from the hospital and place their precious newborn in a simple nursery with a crib and a rocker.  And now here I was, visiting a loved one on the other end of the journey whose material accoutrements amounted to a bed and a rocker in a retirement home.    As I climbed into the car, I was hit by a question: How much stuff is it really necessary to accumulate between these two rooms?  How much do we need to have to feel as if we have enought?  To feel full?  To say "I'm satisfied now"?  Considering the realities marking our beginning and end, I judge that the amount of junk we surround ourselves with is insane.

Jeff Manion