stuff

why does stuff make me so happy?

i gave myself two new albums off of itunes today as a “happy tuesday!” gift. (jason mraz’s “mr. a-z” and nickel creek’s “why should the fire die?”) man, they were both so GOOD that it made me giddy.

i felt energized as i danced around this morning, getting ready for work. i thought to myself, “this is going to be a great day!”

now, it’s true that one of my favorite things about music is that it becomes part of us. it moves us and motivates us. if there were no scary music in scary movies, well they would just be silly movies instead. i am convinced that i could not have trained for my half marathon last year without the ohsoimportant running playlist on my ipod. but i’m not talking about all of that.

i’m talking about the stuff. it’s like, sometimes i start feeling restless or discontent or fearful or lonely, and i turn to stuff to soothe me. buying stuff, especially. as those albums loaded into my itunes library this morning, my body just breathed a sigh of relief. ahhhhh...more stuff.

ick. i hate that. i want to let the things that count fill me.

“don’t be afraid of missing out. you’re my dearest friends! the Father wants to give you the kingdom itself...the place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”
luke 12:32-34 (the msg)

ironically, the the thing that made me start thinking about this, was the first song on nickel creek's new album, called "when in rome." the title of the song should give you the basic gist. this is the last verse: (click here to hear the whole song)

where can a dead man go/the question with an answer only dead men know/but I'm gonna bet they never really feel at home/if they spent a lifetime learning/how to live in rome