As I write this post I’m trying to keep myself from clicking over to my internet browser to search for estate sales. Jim and I went to one last Thursday and found some little treasures. That feeling of success from finding a set of plates that we like gives me such a high. I’m not kidding. It’s been almost a week. The feeling is wearing off. I need a new conquest.
In case you have never been to an estate sale, it is basically a glorified garage sale, except the people that are running it are usually not the owners of the home or the things. Many times the sale is happening because someone died, and there is nowhere for his/her belongings to go.
Jim knows that I love going to garage sales, yard sales, thrift stores, antique stores, and estate sales. So, we got a babysitter and went together. Had you asked me a few days prior if I was greedy, I would have told you no. When I picture greed I see some strange character rolling in gold coins or counting stacks of money. I don’t do either of these things. Another image that comes to mind is a workaholic, dashing through life to make sure they earn enough to get the very latest in everything. Being a stay-at-home wife and mom, I don’t make any money. Therefore, in my mind I am not greedy. I was wrong. Greed comes in many forms and most times is sneakier than we think.
We don’t like to think about the fact that our bodies are temporary. We live in jars of clay that are chipping a little every day. The things we have will not miss us when we are gone. The love affair I have with the perfect living room furniture is one sided. Sadly, that doesn’t make me want it less. Walking around this estate sale, a house empty of family, but full of stuff, I thought “with a quick scribble of my name I could buy half of her kitchen at half the price.” I peeked in every closet and cabinet checking for a sweet little victory of gain.
Driving home thinking that my day had been such a success and looking forward to the next estate sale, I felt my greed. It wasn’t for money. It was for stuff. The greed that swelled in me was alive and I had fed it with ‘I wants’ and ‘I needs’. Now let me be clear, I’m not against shopping whether in stores where you buy new or places you buy used. It isn’t the shopping that was wrong; it was the greed.
The truth is our souls are hungry and thirsty. We are desperate for a feeling of completeness. A sense of accomplishment. To feel full. Hungry for more. Eternity is real and I do need to be rescued from an eternal life of an empty greedy stomach. The Bread of Life. The fountain of living water. The end to drowning in greed. My salvation.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)
photo credit: Meghan Prohaska
Heard It with My Eyes 