Humanities Information

By Dr. Glenn Mollette

One of the perils of life is putting too much value on “stuff.” Stuff can be about anything. It can consist of what we have or what we don’t have.

Much of life is about our stuff. Our house, cars, things in the house. Things around the house and things in the garage, storage building, barns and more barns. If we work hard, it’s possible to accumulate lots of stuff. Often, we have more than we need.

We paint, stain, groom and polish our stuff. Sometimes we put in in cases, drawers, cabinets and even safes. We know how difficult it is to buy and accumulate. Stuff is expensive.

We take pride in our stuff. We admire, adore and feel good about what we have. We remember days when we didn’t have much, wanted more and maybe felt poor. It felt good to get a check and even better to put a few dollars in the bank.

Me, me, and I often became our most significant heroes. We applaud ourselves because we did it, whatever it is. It’s all good because we know where we could be or what could have been or what even might be if luck, circumstances and health had changed or still might change.

The problem with stuff is that it does change. It fades, erodes, rots, burns, is stolen, or simply becomes worthless. What might have been valuable may have changed. Life is always changing.

If you have a lot of stuff then you have lot to worry about. You can’t keep from worrying some.

In time, all of your stuff will belong to someone else. Your land. Your prized possessions. All that you have worked to collect and preserve. Stuff is passed on or gained by someone else. You can make a plan of passing your stuff on to someone else but they may not really care about it and immediately hand it over to a complete stranger. Once anything is out of your hands then who knows what will happen.

We all die sooner or later and we take nothing with us. All of our stuff is left behind and eventually, sometime down the road of life, everything will end up in a junk or trash pile. Fifty years from now people you have never heard of might sleep in your bed in your house, if your house is still in existence.

There once was a man who had so much stuff that he had to build multiple barns. One day he was self-talking, “I have so much stored up for many years. I’m going to take it easy, eat drink and be merry.” Later that day he died. Jesus talked about this guy in one of his stories found in Luke chapter 16. Chances are anyone might identify with the man Jesus talked about if our existence becomes too wrapped up in all of our stuff.

Enjoy your stuff but be prepared to let it all go.

Dr. Glenn Mollette is a graduate of numerous schools including Georgetown College, Southern and Lexington Seminaries in Kentucky. He is the author of 13 books including UncommSense, the Spiritual Chocolate series, Grandpa's Store, Minister's Guidebook insights from a fellow minister. His column is published weekly in over 600 publications in all 50 states.