Garage Sales.
This weekend is the town-wide garage sales for Koontz Lake and Hamlet. The weather is not cooperating.
I have, what you might call, an indifference to garage sales. There are those people who absolutely love them, and those that absolutely hate them. I fall somewhere in the middle. I am not someone who has to stop at every garage sale I see, but I do go to them sometimes. I have actually gotten some pretty nice things at garage sales...for really cheap too.
I, like possibly everyone else in America have held my own garage sales too. When my children were little, and I had lots of baby things to sell, my garage sales were successful, after they got out of the baby stage they were, how shall we say.....a total waste of my time. The hours spent sorting, labeling, hauling things to a friends house, setting up....even with a "good" sale was really not worth the time and effort. At least with going in with a friend and having the sale together, we had a weekend of fellowship. That made it pretty fun.
Several years ago I decided I would never hold another garage sale. I did all the above mentioned sorting, labeling, and hauling, only for the weather to go south on us and it got rained out. I packed everything up and dropped it at the nearest Goodwill box. I decided then and there that if I had something that I no longer needed or wanted, and it was good enough not to throw away, I would give it away. My decision not to hold another garage sale has really been beneficial in that it has curbed my inclination toward pack-ratism. In the past, I would hold on to something thinking, "I can sell that in a garage sale." Now, twice a year I go through all the kids clothes and closets and make a huge donation to Goodwill!
Garage sales are really just a viscous cycle. You buy something at the store, you use it for however long, you decide you don't need or want it anymore, you sell it in a garage sale for a microscopic percentage of what you originally paid for it, someone else buys it, uses it for however long, they decide they don't need or want it anymore, they sell it in a garage sale for even less than they paid for it, someone else buys it.......and on and on it goes.
Lets face it, most of America is very materialistic. Some people actually put teeth to the saying "Keeping up with the Jones'". I think that is kind of sad, yet on the other hand, capitalism is what has made this country the greatest nation on earth. We all make our livings because of buying and selling either a good or a service. I think, that buying things falls under the same umbrella as everything else in life, the umbrella of..."everything in moderation." It's okay to like and want nice things, but if that turns into the sin of lust, envy, jealousy, or stealing that is where it becomes a problem.
So, do garage sales just feed societies materialism and need to buy; OR is is recycling? I think, it is a little bit of both.
Bottom line....as it says in Matthew chapter 6, the treasures that we hold so tightly to here on earth are only momentary, they don't last. The treasures that you store up in heaven are what really matter and will last for eternity.
Matthew 6:19-21
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
No comments:
Post a Comment