It happened at a terrible time!
Suitcase failure!
You may be a master packer; able to make all sorts of clothing, swimming suits and necessary things fit into your suitcase with ease.
I don’t think I have that gift!
Somehow, it is hard for me to only take a few things with me when we travel. I think I might need something, and in the bag it goes.
It’s not like we are going to outer Siberia where we can’t easily go get what is needed.
Still, I seem to pack a good bit of “in case” items.
There are times you go to a place where the weather is unpredictable. You might need warmer clothes or cooler ones, which presents a real packing problem.
Gary and I went on our first cruise to celebrate our anniversary. We had a wonderful time and made many great memories. We were going to debark the ship in the morning and were busy getting everything together and repacked in our suitcases.
We had gotten souvenirs for people and carefully included them among the clothes.
Then came the moment of truth. Will our bag zip closed?
Yes, it did!
Then the zipper promptly separated and broke.
We just looked at each other. Now what?
Duct tape? We didn’t have any.
But the steward came through and found emergency duct tape which we used to tape the suitcase closed.
Very embarrassing! We looked ridiculous with our bandaged bag.
What do we really need to have with us? Gary has a three-question test when deciding to buy something questionable: Do you need it? Do you have a place to put it? Can you afford it?
Seriously, I think these are good questions to ask.
Dave Bruno wrote a book, “The 100 Thing Challenge.” The book challenges people to look at what they own and how they have been influenced by our culture of consumerism.
Would you like to be a minimalist? Our family went through the process of moving my mother into an assisted living home when her microvascular brain disease which caused small continuous strokes left her unable to manage on her own.
What will she need? What will she want around her? How do we downsize from the three-bedroom, two-bath home she lives in?
She even remarked, “You spend your life working and gathering things you need and to make you comfortable; and then you get old and you are down to one small room and few sentimental things.”
Where are you on the materialism spectrum? What does your lifestyle have to do with your spiritual life?
The Bible tells us many truths about “things.”
Proverbs 27:20 says, “Just as death and destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.” Ring true for America today?
Do a search on “Bible about materialism things” and see what comes up. Read through the verses. See what God has to say to you.
“Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, ‘I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.’” ~ Hebrews 13:5
How would your life change if you changed your focus?
