Her husband died recently. She's in her late eighties. Her health is declining. She's already had some Emergency Room visits. It's not safe for her to live at home alone. "Home" is a 4-bedroom, two-story house she can't even see half the time, let alone maintain. (She can't even manage the stairs.) She has to pay for yard maintenance and everything else. She has a substantial bank account and receives a couple of sources of income, so she's not hurting financially, but ... she doesn't want to move to someplace she can be cared for. Why? Because, according to her, "Where will I put my furniture?"
What is it we value? I'm stunned at times. She values ... her furniture. She values her furniture above safety, health, and anyone else's concerns. What do I value above anything else? That question disturbs me a lot. My head says, "Christ alone," but what do my actions say? I'm concerned about cost of living when God promises to supply all my needs (Php 4:19). I'm worried about politics when God says all authority comes from Him (Rom 13:1-2). I preach doing loving your neighbor by sacrificing self (John 13:34) and too often fail to do so. I ... too often ... love things I shouldn't more than what I should love more.
My lady of the first paragraph isn't quite all there mentally. Old people, you know. So the problematic thinking is dramatic. Unfortunately, we all suffer from this kind of problematic thinking, even without the age problem. We're humans in constant need of a renewed mind (Rom 12:2). Solomon wrote, "Guard your heart with all vigilance, for from it are the sources of life" (Pro 4:23). Everything comes from our hearts and minds. I fear we're too lax in guarding them from error.
While I agree with your point, I do have a slightly different take on the "values her furniture" piece. I think that in a lot of these situations that it's not the physical furniture that has value, as much as the sense of losing the familiar. Moving out of one's home into a senior living facility is hard enough and I think that keeping some of the furniture helps ease the transition and helps the new place feel like home.
ReplyDeleteStuff like furniture holds memories which have value also.
I thought the same way, Craig, while agreeing with Stan’s bigger point (I assumed it was a female thing :). I know that as a homemaker for the past 40 years, my home and its contents represent and reflect me to a great extent--my interests, pursuits, accomplishments, tastes, skills, etc. They are not my earthly treasures--my two children are--but they are not without sentiment and value. As I have gotten older and have begun to de-clutter and must eventually consider moving elsewhere (possibly as a widow), there is very real and deep emotional adjustment involved with letting those things go. (I do think my strong practical nature will prevail, though, and the Lord will help me with the emotional aspects.)
Delete“Where will I put my furniture?” It’s not really the physical items that are treasured; it’s the memories of all that took place on and around that furniture and in that house.
Thanks, I'm not saying that stuff can't be that kind of idol, but that it often (in my experience) the memories and relationships that the stuff represents.
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