Let's start at the beginning.
In July, I found myself yelling words that I had never dreamed I'd be yelling. "Aaron, our house is on fire!!"
An errant ember, coming to rest on a stack of cardboard, made short work of the side of our house. The fire department came quickly, just in the nick of time, and doused that corner of our house from top to bottom.
We were very thankful for the quick response that left the inside of our house intact, but we were left with a soggy mess.
A team of first-responders came the next day to help minimize the damage done by the water. Drywall, insulation, and ceilings were removed. Carpet was rolled back. Furniture was moved to other parts of the house and many non-essentials were packed up and transferred to a storage facility 30 km away.
There were many days when we felt the uneasiness of living in a house that is torn apart with no timetable for reconstruction in sight.
After a while, some of us really started to miss some items that had been packed up and stored.
Our family was finally given a schedule and told to make arrangements for living elsewhere for about five days as work commenced on the interior of the house. We lived in a hotel for ten days. With very little of our stuff.
Today we are moving our stuff around once more. Our bedrooms have insulation, ceilings, drywall, three coats of paint, baseboards and we'll soon have doors too!
My daughter's main task for the day is to sort through her *stuff.* As we sat down to start our formal learning for the day, she commented that there was a lot of stuff that she doesn't really need.
Tomorrow we will get the rest of our stuff from storage. More stuff to weed through.
We decided to forgo the lesson plan and talk about stuff. What does God have to say about stuff?
1. He asked the rich man to give away his stuff. (Matthew 19)
2. The wise men gave Jesus stuff. (Luke 2)
3. Life is about more than our stuff. (Luke 12:15)
4. Being with people is more important than getting stuff. (2 Corinthians 12:14)
5. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24)
There are plenty of other verses about stuff... Go ahead and look for yourself. One of my favourite *stuff* verses is Acts 2:45 - "They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need."
We chatted more about stuff and Christmas lists and Christmas shoeboxes, and Compassion children whose pictures are on our fridge and decided to see what it was like to give up some stuff... some comforts that other do not have. We decided our chairs and couches and tables were not necessary, so for the rest of class, for the rest of the day, for every meal today, we are not going to use them. We are standing or sitting on the floor instead of sitting on chairs - just to get an idea of how reliant we are on stuff.
As our good friend likes to say, "It's all gonna burn."
It's just stuff. Don't get wrapped up in the stuff that distracts you from serving your God-given purpose.
If you don't know your God-given purpose, ask Him. He's given some pretty good feedback already.
"Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do,
do all to the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 10:31
"Let your light so shine among men
that they may see your good deeds
that they may see your good deeds
and give glory to your Father in heaven."
Matthew 5:16
~Soli Deo gloria
~Soli Deo gloria
It really is just stuff. When we spent 6 months last year living in hotels during the week (and 3 months several years ago living in a 30-foot camper), it really made me realize how little we need all of this stuff. It's great that your kids are learning this lesson early in their lives!
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