Through the years I've had
nightmare-like dreams about having to pack up all our possessions
quickly to prepare for an imminent move. Its interpretation, if not
due to something I ate before bedtime, might have many layers of
meaning.
Dreams are typically a jumble of
scenarios. Locations, time, and people are all put in a fantasy
blender. In my recurring dream I'm running through the house trying
to decide what to take, how to pack it, what to leave behind, and
what to send ahead, all by some imposed deadline. I seem to be
anxious about what our four little children would need during the
travel transition. (My four adult sons, two of whom are already
grandfathers, are always still toddlers in my dreams!) I
always have to fit the essentials into only two small, tattered
suitcases—the rest, in this nightmare, valuable or not, must be left behind or disposed of in a hurry.
Little wonder that this play script
keeps cycling in my dreams. My late husband and I were married right
after college graduation and within a few months moved across the
ocean to Asia taking our limited possessions with us. In the years
that followed, we traveled around the world multiple times in our
mission ministry, and in more recent years made a dozen journeys
throughout China. We lived in many locations in the United States.
Our children probably attended a dozen different schools. Even now,
just before I awaken in the morning, I have to collect my thoughts to
remember which country or city I am in! This in contrast to some
friends of my childhood who have lived in the same city and even in
the same house all their long lives.
As a family we weren't avid collectors
of anything. It wouldn't have been practical to tote such extras
around. Although I tend to be a “thrower-outer,” my husband had a
“squirrel” complex and was unwilling to throw anything away. Many
things somehow accumulated as decades went by. By my late eighties,
the assemblage is considerable. Sort of like barnacles clinging to
and covering the bottom of an old boat.
I'm not an interpreter of dreams, but
a few things shout at me from the dream-context. In my advanced years
I should think seriously about decreasing worldly goods and
increasing in spiritual closeness to God. With John the Baptizer I
need to declare, “He must increase and I must decrease.” Eternal
values should take priority.
I think of an elderly widowed friend who
lived in her own comfortable, large home among her familiar things
since the passing of her husband. With the sudden onset of health problems, within three weeks her loving family had resettled her in
an assisted-living residence. She was reduced to living in one room
without any of the possessions that had given her pleasure and
security. Well-meaning decisions had been made on her
behalf culminating in a swift weekend garage sale. She was
dispossessed of everything she had treasured over a lifetime. She considered herself "homeless" and mourned the loss.
We can't take anything with us when
God calls us to leave this mortal life—not even two, small,
battered suitcases. We only have the treasure we send ahead to
Heaven. I like the analogy of pulling up to my drive-through bank,
putting a deposit into a cylinder, pushing a button and sending it up
and overhead to the bank teller who deposits it into my account. The
bank may go belly-up and I still could lose my savings. By contrast,
Jesus assured us that whatever we send up and overhead to the Bank of Heaven is everlasting.
I look around in my non-dream state
and conclude that I do have too much stuff! I need to start reducing my earthly
possessions without delay, to discard the things which I don't need and to which I
may have become overly attached—give them away or throw them out. I
should put my house in order before I’m forced to or before someone
else will have to do it for me.
Lord, give me wisdom to maintain my balance.
Help me learn to hold loosely the things of earth, the attachments
that bind me to the visible and the temporary.
TOO MUCH STUFF
(To the anonymous lyrics of THREE BLIND
MICE.
Adapted words by Janet Lindeblad Janzen
and further adapted by Leona)
Too much stuff, too much stuff,
more
than enough,
more than enough,
It’s out of the closets and filling
my space,
it’s growing and spilling all over the place,
I'm tripping all over a terrible
case…
of TOO MUCH STUFF!
Too much stuff, too much stuff, more
than enough,
more than enough,
The piles are staring me right in the
face,
they multiply at an alarming pace,
And soon I'll be buried without a
trace…
in TOO MUCH STUFF!
Too much stuff, too much stuff, more
than enough,
more than enough,
It isn’t easy to run the race, with
all of this stuff
slowing down my pace,
I think that I need some additional
grace…
[to get rid of ] SO MUCH STUFF!
(Excerpt from chapter "Maintaining My Balance" from her forthcoming book)
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