On Forks, Knives, Spoons, and the Nature of Things
by Pastor Matt Pierson
“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Luke 12:15
Recently, we sold a lakehouse that had been in Kristin’s family for over 40 years. Kristin and her brothers grew up going to that house, and our boys did the same. We had a tradition of picking our boys up on the last day of school, with the car loaded, then heading straight to the lake. But after Kristin’s mom passed away in August of 2024, the family agreed it was time for a new family to make their own memories in that house.
Once that decision was made, Kristin and I took many trips to the house to repair and fix it up to list it. Eventually, the repairs and updates were done, and we began to ‘depersonalize’ the house to get it on the market, “making a home a house,” as Kristin put it. The house was listed and sold, which meant, of course, that we had to go clean it out, making our final trip down in June. Even after the family had gone through the house, claiming furniture, knick-knacks, and other items, there was a huge amount of ‘stuff’ to sell, give away, or just throw away. (I would wager that many of us have been in this same situation!)
As Kristin and I were navigating the process of categorizing items as keep, sell, give, or throw away, I reflected on the decades of life that had been lived in this house. I was grateful for the intentionality of Kristin’s parents in providing a space for memories to be made, and grateful for all of our trips and the life we experienced together there. Then I began to reflect about all of the ‘stuff’ that was left— at some point, it had been deemed necessary for the life of the house, contributing to the memories made, but now, it was unessential and unnecessary. The most poignant example was the glassware we had used in the kitchen for decades. So many glasses of water, chocolate milk, lemonade, and soda were drunk over the years; but the last morning Kristin and I were there, after we drank our protein shakes, we just threw the glasses away. No one wanted them. They were discarded. There was no life left in them, no more memories to be made, just refuse to be discarded. Just stuff.
This isn’t meant to be preachy or prescriptive. This isn’t a diatribe on living a minimalistic lifestyle, nor is it an endorsement of the mantra of Marie Kondo, “Does it spark joy?” But there is something worth looking at here. I don’t assume all of us fall into this generalization, but for many of us, we spend years accumulating ‘stuff’. Some things are just necessary for everyday life; others we attain for the joy they bring, or perhaps some sort of signpost for goals met or even status symbols. Some things we collect are actual investments; they grow in value over time. Others have no real value, but we hold on to them just the same; a ticket stub, a receipt for a special dinner, a seashell from the beach. I can’t guess all of our motivations for accumulating stuff; I can’t even understand all of my own motivations. I do know this. Some of the things we accumulate are meant to create memories or remind us of people, places, or events that have been special to us, just like many of the items at the lakehouse that ended up in the trash. They were important at one time because of the life that was being lived around them; the family being together, sharing moments, and creating memories in the same space as those things. But without the people, without the life attached to them, they were just empty shells, because life is not found in the things.
“We find our life in Christ: full, abundant, amazing life, and He has given us each other that we might experience that life together.”
This is what I really want to say about all of this, we find our life in Christ: full, abundant, amazing life, and He has given us each other that we might experience that life together. Allow life to give meaning and context to things, and don’t depend on things to give meaning and context to life.
Look for and choose the life around the things.
— Pastor Matt
