We Love Stuff But…Hello weekend readers. I am musing today on one thing ‘stuff’ because, even after selling our home, living in a big RV and also our 22-ft trailer that we go on excursions, I find myself still getting ‘stuff’! (Amazon-dang it!) So, guess what, you may not know what this day is but I found out on my calendar and here it is: NATIONAL GARAGE-SALE DAY! Who’d a thought such a thing but someone did…read below.

National Garage Sale Day is celebrated by those who go to and put on garage sales, n as rummage sales, yard sales, etc. It’s a type of sale where used goods are sold by private individuals. C. Daniel Rhodes of Hoover, Alabama, got the idea for the day after he saw one neighbor having a garage sale one weekend, another having one the next and so on. He saw some of the same people shopping both weekends, which made him think it would be more convenient if all garage sales took place on the same day! So, in 2001, he decided to use the second Saturday of August with the creation of National Garage Sale Day. It has a fun name for those who do this: Checki-day! And it has taken off like crazy in every state, up in Canada, Puerto Rico, etc.

However, there is a question I can’t get out of my mind: “Do we sell our ‘stuff’ but then go around the block to purchase someone else’s ‘stuff’?” Of course we do! After all, we need to check out the goods and if they catch our eye we buy the ‘stuff’’. It’s a merry-go-round and I have lots of friends including my mother, who loves to do it. Every year my brother and my younger sister clean out my mother’s garage which is packed like to the ceiling. You can ask her if she’s used any of this ‘stuff’ and she’ll tell you “I’m getting around to do it.” Ha!

So what does ‘stuff’’ mean to us in our spiritual life. After all this is a devotion, right? That’s what caught me in my musings. Tammy Stroble, a writer and blogger. Her book “Be More With Less” was her swan-song to shed the ‘stuff’ and enjoy life instead of ‘stuff’! She found more time to read, meditate, pray, and she says “I even got to church again!” She went from overload to a sense of less and a spiritual awakening for her soul, spirit, heart and body. And one major thing that changed her life was practicing gratitude.

In Matthew 6:19-21 [NLT] Jesus tell us: “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

Remember: ‘Stuff’ is a possession just for the sake of it. Jesus and the Bible don’t prohibit us from earning and enjoying worldly possessions. However, Jesus calls on us to avoid hoarding earthly treasures because we can’t take them with us when we die. He also reminds us that a lot of our ‘stuff’ may make us happy but quickly that happiness flitters away.

Does it mean we don’t have rummage sales—NO! I think of the times I’ve had a rummage sale; many of folks had little money to purchase items they could never buy at retail. For them it is a gift from us to them—and as they leave we can say “God bless you.” It’s a witness of our faith and a sharing of it with others. Jesus commands us to use our treasures to grow spiritually-not bulk up with ‘stuff’ we don’t need! So let’s use these treasures as gifts to others in need. Yes, we all like our ‘stuff’ until we have nowhere to put it. How about putting it out there for those who truly need it—and then stop buying ‘stuff’ for yourself? That’s a hard one but you know what I mean! Ok, enjoy your day I am going into Abiquiu for their August Rummage Sale! AMEN.