Faith | Before you put that item into your cart, ask yourself and God these questions
“You can never get enough of what you don’t really need.”
These wise words from American social philosopher Eric Hoffer came to mind as I sat in my car in the center of a huge parking lot surrounded by stores. Across the street there was a similar scene. And this was just one of several of these shopping plazas around the area.
I felt sad, sitting there, thinking about all the stuff that we people buy, and feeling even worse about all that we throw away.
Have you seen the pictures from Ghana and Chile, the tons of discarded clothing from more affluent nations, in piles that stretch for miles? Closer to home, landfills turn precious open space into trash heaps.
And the simple truth about recycling is that much of it ends up in the landfill anyway. There’s just no way to use so many discarded things.
Images come to mind: The trails crossing the mountains of the American West, littered with items left behind so the covered wagons could keep going. (“No, we can’t take the piano over the Rockies!”). The popular TV programs on hoarding. Another big self-storage business has opened in town.
If you want a good laugh about this serious subject, search the internet for Jerry Seinfeld’s five-minute stand-up session on “too much stuff.” It’s on YouTube. It’s hilarious and prophetic!
A three-fold awareness is starting to govern what I buy, what I accumulate.
First, why do I want this? A real need? An item or brand that enhances my self-esteem?
Second, where is all this going to end up, where in the world (literally) will this go after I’m through with it?
Third, what did it cost the planet in order for me to have this, in resources to grow or manufacture it, energy and toxic output to get it to the store or my doorstep?
Christian teachings include being invited to pray for what we want, and we will get it. It sounds like a consumer’s dream, and the planet’s nightmare. But wait, there’s more, more to it than God as a year-around Santa Claus.
Prayer is not a one-way street. When we pray, we are to listen deeply, with the heart more than the head. Prayer that includes deep listening moves us beyond what we think we want, opening us to God’s abundance of what we really need.
When we pray about what we want before we fill our carts, and we open ourselves to God’s response, God has a chance to fix our “wanter,” to align our material desires with what our spirit really needs. Our “having” tamed by humility, acquiring reversed into sharing.
Beneath so many “wants,” I believe the basic need is to belong. We signal that need by the brands on our clothes, the make of our cars, the music we choose.
The choice of faith community is a major piece of belonging, and beneath that, the need to be assured that we belong to God, that we are valued and loved. Without that assurance, gathering “belongings” tries unsuccessfully to help us feel that we belong.
There will never be enough belongings to take the place of what we all really need, to know that we belong to God, belong to God’s world, belong to each other.
