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Women's Article

De-Stuff Your Life
by Tonya Ruiz

Who doesn’t get a kick out of the “Veggie Tales” animated children’s videos? I especially love Madame Blueberry, who earned her name because she was “blue”. She had everything she needed, but her neighbors have nicer things than she does. The ol’ “keeping up with the Jones” problem. Two salesmen came to Madame Blueberry’s door and convinced her that “Happiness waits at the Stuff-mart...an enormous land of goodies...magic land of retail...all you need is lots...more...stuff!” At this point in the video, I was laughing out loud. “What’s so funny mom?” the kids asked. “Stuff-mart. Get it? STUFF-mart. It’s so true.” I replied. They rolled their eyes and looked at each other, as if to confirm that I’d finally lost my mind.

I go shopping and buy things I didn’t even know I needed until the advertisements arrived in the Sunday paper. Two years ago when we moved, I felt like Disney’s mermaid Ariel who sang, “I’ve got gadgets and gizmos aplenty. I’ve got whozits and whatsits galore. You want thingamabobs? I got twenty.” I never realized exactly how much “stuff” I had. Mounds of stuff Boxes of stuff. Truckloads of stuff. I moved my gadgets, gizmos, whozits, whatsits, and thingamabobs from the old house directly into the new one and stored them in every cabinet, drawer, closet, nook and cranny. I put the extra leftover stuff in the attic and garage. I just know this isn’t what the Bible means about leading an abundant and overflowing life. Sometimes, I long for the simplicity of the “Little House on the Prairie” days. If we only had one plate, cup and fork for each family member, surely my sink wouldn’t continually be full of dishes.

There are newsletters telling us how to be “clutter-free”. I am working on it. I am on a mission to “de-stuff” my life. Just what exactly is stuff? It is the non-essential possessions that clutter our houses and our lives.

The world’s philosophy is displayed on the T-shirt that says, “He who dies with the most toys, wins”. Solomon talked of this subject in Ecclesiastes and assured us that we’ll leave it all behind. Like another T-shirt says, “Whoever dies with the most toys still dies”. Is more better? Not necessarily.

There was a woman interviewed after her house had burned down. She lost everything, all of her stuff. She said, “I’m just thankful we made it out with our lives.” My husband and I have had two vans stolen. Frustrating, yes. A tragedy, no. A tragedy is having a child stolen. Cars are replaceable. I recently found evidence of pesky termites eating away my house. Twenty-eight years still left on the mortgage and they are busy munching away.

The reality is that we leave it all here when we die. Everything from our toothbrush to our money. One woman was buried in her expensive car. Egyptians had make-up, riches, food, and even servants buried with them in hope of being rich in the afterlife. Reality check. Naked you came into the world and naked you go out. It all stays.

The Bible says that “Where your heart is, there your treasure is also”. Let’s store up our treasure in heaven, where moths and rust can’t destroy and thieves can’t break in and steal it. In the meantime, does anyone know a good termite man?

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. Timothy 6:6,7

Tonya Ruiz Tonya and her husband reside in Southern California with their four children. She is an author, actress, and speaker.

Visit Tonya on the web at www.tonyasquest.com