Treasures and Trinkets

Good Day Brothers and Sisters!

I was very pleased to receive a comment from my esteemed colleague, the Reverend Tim, who currently hails from the Twin Cities.  The Rev. Tim is doing good work out there.  Regarding our discussion on stuff, he writes:

"But I like my stuff! :-P "

November 30, 2011 12:57 PM

Brethren, before we go any further with this, I want to take this opportunity to be crystal clear about my own stuff.  The Rev. Squeaky-Eye is no cave-dweller or pole sitting hermit.  I am not a Carmelite, spending my days in a dark monk's cell, pouring over scripture and renouncing all possessions.   I, like the Rev. Tim, like my stuff.  I like my stuff very much.

There are some things, yea, stuff, that just flat put a smile on the good Rev's mug.  A fine cigar amongst good company is something that I feel separates us from the lilies of the field, or the swallows of the air.  Besides, the little swallows couldn't hold a cigar, even if they strung it on a creeper between two of the little guys.  Ahem, where was I?  Oh yes, my stuff.

The Rev likes a fast motorcycle about as much as anyone on the planet and he owns a few of them.   When I am not zooming around on a moto, I love and cherish a good guitar.  Again, I have a few of the things and they bring joy to my life.

Now we come to the rub, Sisters and Brothers, now we come to it.  A most righteous Sister posed this question to me:  "Rev, if the flames were coming and you had one hour to grab whatever was most important to you, what would you grab?  Now what would you grab if you had just thirty minutes?  What about if you had fifteen.  And what if you just had five minutes?  What stuff would you run out of the burning building with?"

I think this is a great exercise for all of us, but particularly for myself, because, like the tongue-in-cheek Rev. Tim, I do like my stuff.  Back in the day, Sisters and Brothers, I would have gnashed my teeth, and wailed, and maybe rubbed some ashes on my head, as my precious went up in flames.  These days, I think I'll take a page from our prophet Tom Waits, and Frank, from "Frank's Wild Years."  I hope I can grab one cigar, and the Larivee OM, and dash out of the inferno.  Then I'm gonna sit across the street, smoke the cigar, and watch the flames, "all Halloween orange and chimney red,"  cleanse me of stuff.  Maybe I can try picking a song on the Larivee while the fire rages.  

I hope if I am ever tested again, Brethren, that I can come through the trial without the stuff and still with the smile.  I can tell you that I have been stripped of my stuff in the past, and while painful, it was also liberating.  The experience did not keep me free from acquiring more stuff, but every guitar, cigar and moto is paid for with hard cash.  I am not saying this to aspire to something I am not.  No sainthood awaits the Rev.  I am as deeply flawed with desire as anyone you will ever meet.  What I am saying is that if I can do it, we can all do it, Brothers and Sisters.  If a person as feeble as myself can break the shackles of being owned by stuff and, instead, own only the stuff that helps me be "brave and kind and healthy and happy", then I have faith, yes I have faith, that we as a people can do the same.  

Try the exercise yourself Brethren.  What, of all your stuff, would you grab if you only had five minutes.  The things that are on that five-minute list, those are the truly important things.  The rest is just really, really nice kindling.

Be well, Sisters and Brothers!  Be well, be strong, and Fight the Power!!