Covetousness

 

The horseman serves the horse,

The neatherd serves the neat,

The merchant serves the purse,

The eater serves his meat;

'Tis the day of the chattel,

Web to weave, and corn to grind;

Things are in the saddle,

And ride mankind.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ode

The last week or so we have been doing a lot of sorting through kids clothes, toys and other areas of the house to clean, re-organize and purge. It feels good to get rid of things we don't need and reduce clutter but it always strikes me how often we need to do this or it begins to take over. I am also always struck by the amount of time it requires. I often get the nagging sense that things are riding me.

In Scale How Meditations by Charlotte Mason she speaks to this. "We accumulate furnishings and pictures and appurtenance and belongings without end, and we say in vain, 'Soul take thine ease and enjoy that which thou hast got,' because it is the very nature of this fever of covetousness, this desire for the accumulation of things, that it grows on that upon which it is fed, and each new possession turns on, as it were, a dozen new desires. There is no middle way; only the one counsel will save us, - that we beware of  all covetousness."

 Jesus gives a clear warning in Luke 12:15.

As my home regains order and has less stuff, I am pondering these thoughts and council. I want to guard my heart against covetousness, especially the kind that is more subtle and tries to slip in to soothe my soul with things rather than with Christ. I want to be a good steward of the possessions God gives me and keep the reigns of things firmly in hand.