Ungrateful

So the book 7- An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, by Jen Hatmaker, has really been messing with me. More on that later this week.  Today I want to focus on how ungrateful I am, my kids are, pretty much every person in a first world society, is with the things they own.  (This is also springing up in part from 7)

Lately, for the past few months, I have been noticing how much stuff we have and how much my kids don't care about the nice things they have.  Even the littles let their stuff lay all over the floor and they don't take any steps to care for it.  Beautiful dolls- on the floor, blocks- oops the dog chewed them, books- bent corners because they throw them on the floor, on and on and on.

Remember in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series how Ma had that little china doll that was basically her only beautiful thing?  She packed it carefully every time they moved and the kids were never allowed to touch it. Well, guess what.  There is pretty much nothing that I am that careful with in my life.  Nothing.

So that begets the question, what happened?  When did I come to the conclusion that it doesn't really matter because I can always buy another one?  Or equally disturbing, that one doesn't matter because I have more than one.

We are such a buying culture, that I have to admit I am ashamed of how I have foolishly spent money on stuff, and when I wasn't careful or something happened, I was fortunate enough to just go out and buy it again.

And the biggest question, how do I change it both in myself, and most importantly, in my kids??

How very, very true.

It is up to Chris and I to change our nonchalant ways about buying items that are unnecessary, and teaching our  kids to be grateful for every.single.thing they have.  

This has been on my mind a lot, especially since I have read 7 and have been focusing on what basically 99% of the rest of the world doesn't have.  We're talking people who maybe have one change of clothes, maybe one toy, maybe are eating one meal a day.  And I took my kids to McDonalds because I was too lazy to make lunch.  And Kembia has 4 baby dolls and guess how many she plays with?  None.  

Ugh, it is all starting to make me feel sick about it.  I know, I can't change the past, but I find myself being frustrated with my fellow Americans and our desire for more, more, more.  I am not saying that having things, or even buying things is wrong, but it is wrong when we do it unnecessarily and from a position of gluttony.  And I would even go so far as to say it is wrong if we do it but then are not helping people in need as we continue to amass things for ourselves.  I think Jesus would look at how a typical American, myself included, lives, and shake his head in sadness for how we are totally missing the point.  

We have a big uphill battle in front of us.