Thoughts about the want-it bug...

Well, I am sitting here drinking my morning coffee and thinking about the day ahead. I was once again reading my friend, Alice's blog and it got me to thinking......imagine that............Alice always seems to have a way to make me think, which is usually a good thing!!

Anyway, Alice had wrote a blog about "STUFF" and materialism. I must admit, I have also been a victim of this worldly materialism that has engulfed so many. Am I proud to admit that....no not at all, not in the least, but it is true. How hard it is to avoid it when it is in our face, all the time, everywhere. In thinking about this, I remembered a little conversation the other day involving one of my neighbors while we were all outside playing. My friend's little boy saw my Morgan drinking a soda, of course, you know what that brought on.....he ran to his mama saying " I want a *doke* ( coke in 3.5 yr old terms)". To this his mama answered, " Well, I know you do, but do you know what, you are not old enough for your wants to hurt you". He gave a little hrrmmmmppphhh and walked off saying, OK. That was the end of it, he never mentioned it again the rest of the afternoon. So, back to my thoughts....how fitting that little conversation was....and how true!! My question is, when are we old enough for our WANTS to hurt us? When I think about it, I guess I have to say, we are never old enough. If we all remembered this thought every time we WANT something, wouldn't that put a hurting, so to speak, on the world of materialism? Yeah, I know that is easier said than done, I will be the first to admit I need to also live with this mindset, but I don't.
I am always saying, I need to clean out this or clean out that, there is just too much STUFF in this house, unnecessary stuff that just sits. As I sit and look around at all the stuff.......and think about when or why it was bought, more often than not, I come to the conclusion, it was just a spur of the moment want, not a need at all. Oh how much simpler life could be if we ( meaning I) would only buy what is needed and not so much what is wanted. I am not saying I am the worst at impulse buying, I really try hard not to buy just for the fun of it ( although, sometimes it is fun), but I have and do fall victim to the "want-it bug". I also know first hand that it is totally possible to live with only the things you need and be perfectly happy. Growing up, we had very little, in this I mean, extremely little, to the point of living with no indoor plumbing, no electricity.....but yet, we were happy. We still had fun, we still smiled and laughed and I have so many wonderful memories. The funny thing is, most of those memories do NOT involve stuff at all. One time in particular was the Christmas Eve that the electricity went out ( this was at a house we did have electricity at). We sat together, Mom, Dad, my brothers and I, and Dad read the Christmas story from the Bible by candle light. How interesting is it that I remember that Christmas, you know the time of year the world had turned into a huge materialism fest, over any other Christmas as a child. Yes, I do remember some of the gifts I received, but more often it isn't the STUFF I received but rather the time spent with family and friends.
Well, this has turned out longer than I meant to make it, so I will close for now. I need to go pick up and straighten up all the STUFF in this house......hmmm, food for thought......