Okay, so maybe I really do like possessions

I've been talking with my friends a lot about simplicity and being minimalistic. I would like to think that I am not tied down to my stuff and that I could give it all up just like that and move to South America. An event that happened tonight made me realize that maybe I'm not as simplistic as I like to profess.

I was putting some clothes in a dryer tonight at the guys' laundromat and started it and realized that I had picked one of the broken dryers in the laundromat (which apparently 75% of our dryers are now duds......seriously, I'm paying 17 grand a year for this?!?). I was out of quarters so I went back to my room and then ended up going to the student center with my friend Amy. We hung out till almost curfew and when I went back to the laundromat, I looked and my favorite pair of jeans were gone!

Now, you might ask why I would get upset about one pair of jeans. Well, my mom got me these jeans last fall and they're my favorite pair and I wear them ALL THE TIME, because I'm single, I'm a guy, and all my clothes match up well with them. Still, even with that, it shouldn't be a big deal. But, about a month ago, I stupidly left my car door unlocked and someone stole my ipod that my sister had given to me for high school graduation, and my itrip that had allowed me to rock out to any music that I wanted in my car (I said that this happened because God was just trying to get me to rely on possessions less.....but really it's just because I'm just an idiot). Then Coleman got me a Waffle House gift card for my birthday, but every time I try to use it they say it's messed up and I end up having to pay with what's left of my money while the waitresses and my friends look at me like I'm an idiot for wasting so much time trying to use the stupid gift card. So, with the stolen ipod, the lies of waffle house, and now my stolen jeans, I walked back to my dorm room with my naive self dead, losing all faith in humanity, and thinking the world was out to get me. I realized that I really just wanted my stuff back and I was angry that it was all gone.

Of course, when I came back into my room, I realized that I had forgotten my jeans in the room.....so maybe humanity was still okay after all.

But I realized that for all my talk about not being attached to possessions and the treasures of this earth....I still unfortunately am quite attached deep down. I like my stuff. My stuff makes my life better and easier. My stuff is cool. Stuff is good.

And it's not just the stuff. It's the sentimentality attached to the stuff. Like I said, my sister got me that ipod as a graduation present and I have been rocking out to it since senior year. Almost all my things are gifts from someone and have a story. So, it's really difficult to not be attached to them.

I know this is only going to get harder. As I get a real career and disposable income and responsibilities it's going to get harder and harder to keep things simple and to not get too attached to stuff. I pray that God will help me as I continue to grow and try to store treasures in heaven instead of on earth. I pray that I can learn to be okay if possessions are lost, and maybe I can do the intentional loosing. I pray that I can figure out how to be as simple as I want to be. And I pray that God will give me grace while I'm not quite yet there (or actually while I still have a long long way to go). May we all be a people who realize that the stuff of this world isn't what matters, and may we all find our joy in what truly does matter.