Just look at all this STUFF! It is not expensive STUFF, not beautiful STUFF, nor STUFF that appeals to anyone else, but it is MY STUFF!

By the time I was born, my parents had already collected lots of STUFF for me, including the baby STUFF they had saved from the four siblings before me. Growing up, I collected my own STUFF. Then when I married Jim, he had all kinds of STUFF. What a shock it was when he did not want to get rid of some of his STUFF to make room for MY STUFF! Hmmm, it was about that time the honeymoon was over. (Smile)

Now that my daughter and her husband live with me to help take care of me, they are bringing their STUFF with them that they have collected through 40 years of marriage and raising four children. All this being added to an already full home of Jim’s and my STUFF, means that together, we have all been getting rid of L-O-T-S of STUFF. I have told them I am not attached to any of the STUFF we are getting rid of, but just be sure they don’t send me out with it!

Now it is a matter of this one pile of My STUFF that means so very much to me. Emotions run high as memories reflect over a life time. As I hold on to this STUFF as precious treasure, a startling thought comes to me. This really is MY STUFF, and when I go to be with the Lord, there is no one else to whom this STUFF is going to mean a thing. But it seems like if they really love me, they would love MY STUFF too! And then I realize, how foolish, and how blessed I am with wonderful memories, and knowing the best is yet to come! So with that thought in mind, I continue to sort stuff, making that pile get smaller and smaller.

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things (stuff) which he possesseth. Luke 12:15

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Philippians 3:7 & 8