Buried Alive

Why is there so much stuff??

Something that’s been really impressed on my mind and my heart in the past few weeks is that there’s always so much more stuff, so much more…everything.

There’s always newer cars, newer computers, newer iPods, newer toys. I’m a guy. I have a weakness for cool new toys. We slave and we suffer to earn a bigger paycheck, and there’s always something more to buy, something more to go into debt for. I’m slaving away to finish this master’s degree, and I’ve already had people telling me not to stop, that I need to get another degree after that. But see, after that would be another degree, and another, and another.

After the next new toy, there would just be another to buy, and another, and another…

After we learn so much that we think we’re intelligent, there’s just more to learn…

When we think we know what’s happening in the world, there’s more information to know…

Tonight, I really just want to throw my hands in the air and scream, enough already!! I don’t want anymore! I’m exhausted just from trying to keep up! The author of Ecclesiastes had a point: it’s all just vanity. The original Greek word carried the connotation of a vapor, or passing breath. It’s just that temporary. It’s gone before you know it, and all that effort and time and money we’ve spent on it means exactly nothing.

What important things in life do we let go by because we were trying to acquire, or buy, or learn the next thing? How many relationships, with people, with God? How many wonderful times sacrificed because we stayed late at the office, or pulled an all-nighter for an exam?

I see all this stuff out there, and I see us buried alive. Suffocating. We can’t claw our way to the surface, because we keep pulling more stuff in on top of ourselves. And we still don’t get it.

Eventually, we won’t be able to breathe anymore at all.

Then what?