"Simple Monday," not Cyber Monday!

"Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy?"

Isaiah 55:2

Well, here we are! In the midst of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. The Christmas consumer machine is in full gear. So fittingly, the chapter I am reading today in "Pray All Ways" is the chapter on living simply. Fr. Ed Hays uses this scripture from Isaiah to point out that all of our consumerism will not bring us any more satisfaction than in Isaiah's time. We can buy into the consumer machine and then sit there, on the first of January, and wonder where the happiness is. Fr. Ed suggests pulling out an old photo album and thumbing through the pages of it. There, is what is truly important to us. In most cases, we won't see pictures of stuff (although I remember taking pictures of a new-to-us car once). We will see pictures of people. It is the people in our lives that are important to us, not the stuff we accumulate at an alarming rate. The stuff we gather as we buy into the signs of the season will not bring us happiness. In fact, just the opposite is true. Unnecessary stuff is a burden...it pulls us down and swallows us up. It does not bring us closer to God. Today, let's really ask ourselves, as Fr. Ed suggests, "Do I really need this? Am I a robber baron if I store away what another might be able to use?" Let's strive to live more simply! (Just as I was typing this I got an email..."Your Amazon Order has Shipped!") Lord, help me! Love, heidi