Storage Units

With more than just a little amazement, I have watched the new construction taking place all around me.  Of course, in many cases, new construction means new businesses are preparing to open.  From the looks of things where I hang out, the hottest thing on the real estate market is storage units.  They are going up  everywhere.  Apparently, we have become a society of collectors who no longer have room in the places we live for all our stuff.  We have become so affluent that we need additional space to store the stuff we do not need and we are willing to pay someone rent to keep it for us.   

Obviously, our stuff is important to us, but the question still lingers out there, "How much stuff will we accumulate until something within us says, "Enough!' "  John Wesley, the 18th century father of Methodism had a saying which is often repeated in Wesleyan circles:  "Earn all you can. Save all you can.  Give all you can."  Of course, Wesley was talking about money, but somehow I suspect what he had to say is relevant to our growing spirit for accumulating stuff.  What Jesus said to one of the affluent folks He met on the road can certainly cause more than just a little soul searching: "There is still one thing lacking.  Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."  (Luke 18:22)  

Let no one say Jesus did not preach a radical kind of discipleship!  The spiritual truth within the radical word is that we can allow our stuff to become so important to us that we forget that life is not about accumulation.  There is something more important.  The man in the Biblical story went away with sorrow because his stuff he held too tightly.  One day all that stuff in the new storage unit will provide someone the stuff they need for a nice estate sale and we will not even be consulted!