Republished - Too Much Stuff

My daughter likes her stuff. It is not uncommon that she appears at the door to leave for church with a doll, 2 books, a sippy cup, and a blankie in hand.

My husband or I will look down and say, “It’s too much stuff.” You see we know that there is no way for her to carry all that stuff into the car or to hold on to it once she’s in the car and that carrying all that stuff will slow her down.

So, if we are on top of our parenting game we will tell her, “Pick one thing to take.” If we are not on top of it, we let her sneak by with all the stuff. Sometimes we don’t feel like challenging her and agree to pile all of it in on top of her lap in the car seat, but as soon as the journey begins we regret not ending the madness sooner because the entire trip will be filled with dramatic outbursts as beloved toys, books, and cups are dropped from her lap.

“MY BOOK!” she will shriek from the backseat and you try to ignore her because it is on the floorboard and not easily retrieved, especially if you are the driver, but the shrieks continue and are joined by tears and you’ll do anything to make it stop even twisting your back and arm into contortions not intended when God designed the human body just to retrieve said object and return it to quiet the shrieks.

But alas, you seasoned parents know, the quiet lasts about 30 seconds until the cup is dropped. “MY CUP!!!” the little princess screams, “MY CUPPY!”

Oh how well God knows that we all travel around this life on earth with “too much stuff!” He knows it will slow us down, cause us grief, but we refuse to choose just one. We want it all, all the time! So, He strips it away until we are finally free enough of the “stuff” that is making us ineffective in serving Him. We shriek as each one falls away, but our Heavenly Father is the perfect parent and knows ultimately it is better for everyone to leave that book, that cup, that doll on the floorboard rather than returning it to our lap.

This post was originally published on January 15, 2009.