The Value of Stuff
August 6th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
I have spent this week with my brother visiting my dad and step-mother out of state. It was a necessary trip though not one I would consider fun.
My dad and step-mother are compulsive hoarders. In addition to this, they are in the throws of the emotional and physical decline that are part of the aging process. In their case, some of their problems are exacerbated by some of the bad habits that were common to the people of their generation.
My brother and I spent quite a lot of time heaving things that they have spent their life collecting into a large dumpster we had sent to their home. For my dad, it seems that if having one electric drill was good, having six must be even better. The downside to this is that their home eventually became so inundated that they were having trouble managing it all.
This wasn’t the first dumpster we filled though. My brother was at their home earlier this summer and filled one by himself. I went this time to help him remove several junked appliances from their basement and to make a dent in the remainder.
As we dealt with this, I thought about the value that we place on things. Sometimes, we believe that an item has an intrinsic value. A flower pot has a utilitarian value based on the importance we place in having a place for a plant to grow or by it’s aesthetics.
But in the case of my dad, the flower pot had an unnatural value based not just on it’s utility or aesthetics, but on the fact that collecting them filled some unmet need down deep in his soul. So instead of having a few flower pots, he had about a hundred of them.
The mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal said:
What is it then that this desire and this inability proclaim to us, but that there was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present? But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself.
I think this is a pretty good analogy. In the soul of man exists a void that can only be filled with the infinite. How else can you explain the existence of religions or the various “isms” such as alcoholism that are often a part of the human condition? Many of these are a feeble attempt to fill the void.
In expecting things to satiate the longings of our soul, we might as well be shoveling sand into an abyss one thimbleful at a time. The longings of our soul are far more expansive than could ever be filled by things. In fact, this longing can only be filled by an infinite God.
What value are you placing on things? Are you trying to fill the void in you with something finite or something infinite?
Don’t Hold On Too Tightly
May 16th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
This story over at the Houston Chronicle is sad. It seems that during the recent heavy rains, a woman drowned after driving her car into a flooded retention pond. The weird part is this:
“She backed up to avoid the flooded road and backed up over the curb on the west side of the street onto private property, which was also flooded,” Silva said.
“A witness who was at the scene told her to get out of her car, but she was afraid that she would lose her car,” Silva said. “The car then floated out into the middle of the retention pond and sank — and she was still in her vehicle when it sank.”
Now I don’t know this lady. I am sure that she was a decent person and was loved by her friends and relatives. Her death surely is a tragedy and I don’t mean to diminish it by anything I say here. In all likelihood, she panicked and her judgment went out the window.
I wonder though, if we lose sight of the real value of things. After all, it’s just a car. I can’t imagine that given calm reflection that she would think that saving her car was worth losing her life over.
I just finished reading a book by Skye Jethani called The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity. Throughout the book, Skye argues that consumerism has infected all aspects of our culture, and even the American church. Because of this, we tend to see God and the church as a commodity, a thing to be used for our benefit.
The reduction of even sacred things into commodities also explains why we exhibit so little reverence for God. In a consumer worldview he has no intrinsic value apart from his usefulness to us. He is a tool we employ, a force we control, and a resource we plunder. We ascribe value to him (the literal meaning of the word “worship”) based not on who he is, but on what he can do for us.
While God often provides for our material needs, we need to keep these material things in their proper perspective. Jesus puts it this way:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21 ESV)
In reality, what are things worth to you? How do we keep things in proper perspective and keep God where he belongs? If we don’t ascribe the proper value to things we could end up losing more than just a car.
