Material Girl.

It has officially been centuries since I posted last. Oops. I hopefully will not follow that same pattern in the upcoming year. Even if not many people read my blog (are you reading?), it still is helpful for me in processing thoughts.

As of late, God has put on my heart the issue of how much value I place on material things. As I was listening to Him in prayer one day, I thought it interesting that of all things He wanted me to let go of, materialism was on the list. I have many other faults that I can attest to but I thought, "I'm not really that attached to my stuff am I? Well, show me what you mean."

Since then, some of my things have gone missing. Each time it happens, I find myself frustrated. It's hard for me to remember that they are just things and don't really matter in the scheme of life. The ultimate realization of my investment in my material things came today. I was on a run and got bit by a dog. A little bit funny. I'm fine but my running pants are not. There is a huge hole and they are unwearable. As I ran off from the conversation with the owner in which she barely apologized and didn't offer to replace them, I found myself angry. I tried not to fume for the rest of my run and near the end of my run, I finally turned from my selfish thoughts to God.

God wanted this experience to show me how much I am concerned for my "things." I was angry about the apathetic reaction of the owner. I was angry I'd have to buy new pants when the damage was not at all my fault. I was angry that I was wronged. But God made me realize one thing: grace. The grace I was able to show the woman by being friendly with her and not asking her for money to replace the pants must have been needed. I prayed that God would use that experience of my grace to reveal His own grace to her.

The pants are just that: pants. While I thought about how trivially I was "wronged", my mind immediately went to how much we wrong God. We wrong God in ways exponentially larger than the way I was wronged and He still offers us His love and grace. Amazing. When God is offering us this amazing gift, we HAVE to set aside our attachment to the material and invest fully in the life He gives us.

So my question to you is: are you attached to the material or are you investing in God? What attachments to material things does God want you to give up? It's hard to focus on the eternal as opposed to the temporal, as I am now well aware of, but we must strive to live like citizens of the Kingdom of God.

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6:21