The Law of the Ugly Chair

Yesterday, I got tired of looking at this chair that has been in my living room for several years. Well, it's not actually a chair chair, it's really a desk. You know, one of those school desks that's all of one piece with a storage shelf on the bottom for books and that groove in the desk part for a pencil that's always too shallow. Well, I've had one for years now. It's old and needs some work--sanding and polishing etc. We were given it as a gift once upon a time and always intended to "do something" with it but never did.

Then the dramedy happened and it's just been sitting in the corner being piled upon for the last 3 years.

Yesterday, I got tired of moving it around so I could swiffer under it and decided to get rid of it. It just had to go, like so many other useless things in my life and once it was gone all I felt was relief. Now, I have a clear space where I had none before. I can chase Chelsea around with the swiffer unimpeded and  I don't have to look at it anymore.

Glenn Bland wrote, "...[You]cannot have both money and things...To accumulate money, you must give up things. But if you accumulate things, you will never have money. It's just that simple and yet few people really understand it." (Success: The Glenn Bland Method, p55-56). One of my favorite books. I don't always adhere to this philosophy, as my closets can attest, but for the last few years (for the most part) I have and the concept has proven itself true, time and again.

Don't get me wrong, I like my stuff but I think I like getting rid of stuff even more.  It gets in the way, caring for it takes up time I could better use elsewhere and it takes up room when I would much rather have empty space. I despise clutter. Christ said that our life does not consist of our stuff and God isn't going to be counting our toys when we die. An article I read recently reminded me of that silly saying a few years ago, "He who dies with the most toys wins". Good grief, if all I am working for is toys I can't play with because I'm dead, what is the point of having them?

Someone someplace is going to say/think: "What a trite, holier-than-thou hypocrite she is! She accumulates crap just like everyone else! I know her very well!" And that is partially true. I know I accumulate stuff sometimes it just happens. Being mindful of it and the dangers of acquisition, I think, means I am not a hypocrite. First, I recognize that some things are required for life in these United States. Second, God never said we couldn't have stuff. Third, He also never said we shouldn't have stuff. He said to be on guard against it because the accumulation of things for accumulation's sake will interfere with your relationship with Him. It's not money that is the root of all evil, but the love of it. By the same token, it's not stuff that is the root of all evil, it's the love of it.

I do try to remember that every time I wander through the nearest SuperTarget. It doesn't always work, but I am learning.

Next on the agenda: the storage, I mean, guest room! LOL!

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!

Relevant Reading
Luke 12:15-21
1 Timothy 6:2-10
Success: The Glenn Bland Method
How to Solve Your Stuff Problem
The Law of the Ugly Chair