Oooh, I'm Stuffed

As I get more into this blogging thing, I have had fun checking out other blogs. I heard there are something like 75 million blogs out there on the internet. Today, I'm going to start a list over on the right of other blogs I like to read. Check out what others are doing in the blogosphere.

Last week, I happened upon a link to "The Story of Stuff." You can watch a 20-minute video that is pretty good. I think there are some big generalizations made, and I'm not sure I agree with every broad brush stroke, but it certainly was thought provoking, and has me paying attention to how we treat the business of stuff. Yesterday, I read on Mary DeMuth's blog about an online group called Freecycle. It's a great idea for dealing with stuff you don't want that others might. You can keep your unwanted but usable things in use, rather than in the landfills.

I feel the "stuffing" most during Christmas. I'm always bucking the way we do it because I feel like the birth of our Savior gets lost in the stuff. Buying for others, wanting for ourselves, making room for what we got....We tell our kids with our mouths what the real meaning of Christmas is, but what do we show with our actions, when we spend a majority of our time, energy, and money on the stuff? And, as I think about filling Easter baskets, I feel the stuff-monster trying to creep in. Celebrating the incredibleness of what Jesus did for us can get lost in chocolate, jelly beans, ham dinners, and gifts in the baskets. I'm not even getting into the whole bunny thing.

I don't want to go overboard and be a completely NOT FUN mom, but I also don't want to just get on the boat and head down the river everyone is going down just because it's what we've always done. I'm getting at being intentional again. I want to stop the boat, get off, and ask where are we going. Is it where we want to go? Are we on the right boat? Maybe we don't want to be on the water at all, maybe we want to walk in the woods....in a very fun way, of course.