Upheld In Connection

Heirloom

In my last blog, I talked about clutter. This time, it’s about collecting. Strange to put these together. The truth is that I want to clear my clutter, but I do love collecting pretty things. Cups, saucers, vases, and other things.

It’s particularly a struggle to let things go when there is an attachment to the history of them. Heirlooms. Things passed down from generation to generation. Shouldn’t there be some reverence for such things? To know Great-Grandma handled this and now I am using it. Continuity.

Obsession

However, when the reverence for previous generations and the things they’ve preserved for us become obsessions, it may be time to let it go.

It certainly surprised me to realize that I held an object too closely when someone once said she had learned to let go of things and they weren’t as important to her as they were to me. Wow! Did this mean that I am materialistic?

Where might the line be drawn as to what is an enjoyable hobby, a connection with the past or just accumulating goods?

Connection

It is true that we can take nothing with us when we leave this world. True connection is not through things, even if it seems that things connect us to loved ones who have passed on.

True connection comes through the heart and memories of relationships. In some cultures, oral storytellers are trained to relate and pass down the family stories with their relationships. If we followed such a practice, it could be that our families would be more connected, and we would know who we are.

Relationship

It is true that no amount of collecting can connect us one to another. Nothing in this world can ever quench the hunger in our hearts. We are made for relationship. It’s what we long for. We are born with that yearning in our hearts.

God has placed that hole in our hearts for Him, and He alone can fill it. Nothing else will do.

We’ve just been through the Christmas season, the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus. He set aside His Godness for a time in order to come and make a bridge for us to cross from living in the land of the lost to being found.

Seen

Heard

Touched

Loved

We need nothing else.

He opens the deeps in our hearts to love and connection. First Him. Then one another. Forever.

“The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them. The Lord watches over all who love Him” (Psalm 145:18-20a NIV).