I'm not taking this to heaven
Aaron and I have entered into a major phase of redoing our guest bathroom. I know why Jesus says it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Not that we're even that rich, but we have a home so I realize we have much more money than most people in the world by that alone.
I don't want to store up for myself treasures on earth so that poses the question: since we do have money, how do we use His money to bring glory to His name? For one, we love hosting people and so we searched around in January and found our current home which has plenty of space, but also needs plenty of work. We don't want our home to be a four walled structure to serve just our needs, but to serve the needs to our community. Living in a college town we are excited to have a place where people can come for a home cooked meal, where people can feel safe, find refuge, find an ear to listen, find a quiet place to rest, find lots of laughter, and to have people stay with us for a few nights or for a little more permanently. That means that we would like have a second bathroom with a working shower and a floor that is not rotting underneath. We bought this home knowing we would have to do some major home improvement things. We budgeted for that.
But I still find it stressful at times. We have contracted out the major demolish and drywall to someone else and we are going to try our hand at tiling, installing the vanity, some simple cabinetry, and other finishing items for the room. (mm... sounds like we're in a bit over our head, but that's ok for now :) Clearly, we are not looking to break the bank, I have picked very simple and inexpensive items. But still... do I want 4' x 4' inch tile or 6' x 6' inch and in what color? How wide will the grout lines be? And the list goes on. We want it to be simple, but we want to do a good job, so I don't want the crappiest, cheapest item in the store that has terrible reviews online.
So yesterday, I braved Lowe's (it's scary when the people there start to know you because you are there so often) by myself to by some larger items with a 10% off coupon that our friend gave us. I was pretty pleased with how things went. I was able to get our floor tile on clearance and managed not to run anyone over with my giant cart that I could barely push. But nonetheless I found myself staring at items and going back and forth between two things. I would start to get a worked up and then I said to myself...
"You're not taking this to heaven."
Then I smiled, grabbed the simpler and less expensive item, and placed it in my cart.
Jesus said, "Do not store up treasures on earth... but store up treasures in heaven." (Matthew 6:18-20)
I don't want to store up for myself treasures on earth so that poses the question: since we do have money, how do we use His money to bring glory to His name? For one, we love hosting people and so we searched around in January and found our current home which has plenty of space, but also needs plenty of work. We don't want our home to be a four walled structure to serve just our needs, but to serve the needs to our community. Living in a college town we are excited to have a place where people can come for a home cooked meal, where people can feel safe, find refuge, find an ear to listen, find a quiet place to rest, find lots of laughter, and to have people stay with us for a few nights or for a little more permanently. That means that we would like have a second bathroom with a working shower and a floor that is not rotting underneath. We bought this home knowing we would have to do some major home improvement things. We budgeted for that.
But I still find it stressful at times. We have contracted out the major demolish and drywall to someone else and we are going to try our hand at tiling, installing the vanity, some simple cabinetry, and other finishing items for the room. (mm... sounds like we're in a bit over our head, but that's ok for now :) Clearly, we are not looking to break the bank, I have picked very simple and inexpensive items. But still... do I want 4' x 4' inch tile or 6' x 6' inch and in what color? How wide will the grout lines be? And the list goes on. We want it to be simple, but we want to do a good job, so I don't want the crappiest, cheapest item in the store that has terrible reviews online.
So yesterday, I braved Lowe's (it's scary when the people there start to know you because you are there so often) by myself to by some larger items with a 10% off coupon that our friend gave us. I was pretty pleased with how things went. I was able to get our floor tile on clearance and managed not to run anyone over with my giant cart that I could barely push. But nonetheless I found myself staring at items and going back and forth between two things. I would start to get a worked up and then I said to myself...
"You're not taking this to heaven."
Then I smiled, grabbed the simpler and less expensive item, and placed it in my cart.
Jesus said, "Do not store up treasures on earth... but store up treasures in heaven." (Matthew 6:18-20)
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