Earthly Possessions

Earthly possessions dazzle our eyes and delude us into thinking that they can provide security and freedom from anxiety. Yet all the time they are the very source of anxiety. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

When I was a kid, I wanted a television set in my bedroom. My parents told me that if I saved my own money and bought it myself that I could get one. Challenge accepted. I saved and saved my allowance. Any money that I got for a holiday or a birthday I added to my savings. I watched the ads that came in the newspaper for small television but it was still out of reach. Our first Wal-Mart had opened in Dade City and we were browsing through the aisles. They had a small black and white television that I could get if I spent all my money. It wasn’t color and it was incredibly small but I had waited what felt like so long for a television so I snapped it up. I still remember unpacking it from the box and setting it up in my room. It had built in rabbit ears and a dial to change the channels. I was delighted. I sat in my room with the glow of the black and white screen watching the A-Team that very night. I was amazed at how much joy that this little television brought me, but it was inevitably short lived.

When I think back on the big memories of my life, this television or rather any of my possessions don’t make my top 50. The best things in life indeed are not things. They do give us a temporary feeling of happiness but it doesn’t last leading to us just purchasing more and more. No amount of buying ever brings joy but usually just kicks our worries further down the road.

Earthly things as Bonhoeffer reminds us of are things of this world. We can’t take them with us and much like everything of this world to dust they shall return. As Jesus tells us when we lose our focus, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).

Prayer

God of all, in this world, we can become distracted by earthly things. In our anxiety and despair, things and material goods seem to bring us an instant feeling of joy but they don’t last. You are the constant source of joy in our worry and from you we can find peace and comfort. Amen.