Hebrews 13:5 - 6

Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said,

“I will never leave you or forsake you. So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”

How do you content yourself with what you have? By looking around at those less fortunate. By being aware that here in North America we are in the richest 1% of the world's population.

I found Doris Janzen Longacre's book “Living More With Less” to be an eye-opening experience when I first read it many years ago. She interviews people from different parts of the world about how they handle different areas of a typical North American budget. She asks them what they noticed about the American lifestyle when they arrived to the U.S. for the first time.

The answers were very interesting and illuminating. They gave me pause to reconsider if some of the things I took for granted really were necessary. Not only did I start to filter purchases through the lense of true need, but I also started to consider the cost of obtaining something new, the cost of maintaining it, the time involved in both of those, and the bother of having to move it or store it.

I have far too much stuff in my home right now to even think of bringing anything into it. I know I'm in trouble because I'm buying storage containers, instead of using what I have so I don't need storage containers. When I'm buying storage containers, it's time to give away or use up what I have.

The other day I spent a half hour looking through an on-line book discount publisher website. I picked out several books to buy, and then just closed the screen. Why? I glanced up from the computer at my bookcase full of craft books and decided I really had enough. I haven't done a project out of every book yet, so how can I justify buying any more? I am definitely content. In fact more to the other end of the extreme now. I am discontent because I have all these books cluttering my shelves that I have not used. My motto “Use it or lose it” is itching to be exercised.

Before buying new now, I think creatively about other things that might do the same job. Or a way to get the same job done by borrowing or sharing a tool. The rule with borrowing and sharing is that you be sure to return things promptly. I am not good at this, having a poor memory. So I simply opt to not to borrow or buy things, but find creative ways to fill the need.

One of the bad habits we've fallen into in our home is to buy something because it's easier than looking and finding it in the house. This shows bad organization on our part. Because I tend towards being a packrat (I might need it some day!) my goal is to de-clutter on a continual basis. I pick an area of the house and go to it. My hope is with the de-cluttering and subsequent organizing, eventually we will be able to find the things we want or need before going to the store.

I also consider de-cluttering our furniture. Why? We have more furniture than we need. And what we have is old and in need of replacement and repair. Rather than repair, we buy to replace. But that has to stop! We will find something in our price range that we can pay cash for. We have some furniture that needs to go out to the dump. It will be tossed. Some of it will be cut to size and reused...one of our favourite techniques for acquiring the furniture we need. In some cases we will be throwing things out so we don't need so much furniture to store it. That means I'll be hooking more rugs so I won't need to store that wool in the sunroom!

We do not want to live in a palace where people are afraid to sit on the furniture, but we do want to be comfortable. We do not want to worry about wasting time, energy and more money shopping for good quality furniture when the poor quality breaks down. For us, that means buying solid wood furniture as much as possible. It probably will mean shopping the second hand furniture stores, the sales in December, and the classified ads.

Being content is about lowering the level at which you feel satisfied, but not to the point that you feel deprived. It's about knowing yourself, your priorities, and what you want to do with your life...and then surrounding yourself with possessions that will help you do that. It is intricately tied into finding God's purpose for you. Once you know his purpose for you, it becomes clear what is necessary and what is excess baggage along the way.