#203 – Nice Things

Yesterday I wrote about two Star Wars Lego sets that together would cost nearly $1,000.

One. Thousand. Dollars.

For Legos.

That’s ridiculous.

I often tell Alycia how someday it would be nice to be able to just buy a $1,000 worth of Legos or a $1,500 watch. I like watches, sunglasses and ridiculous toys. Alycia is a much better person than me, though, and she she’d much rather save our money or use it for a good cause.

If I did buy a Lego Super Star Destroyer, once assembled it would just remind me that I spent $650 on a toy. That money could have gone to provide 11 water filtration systems, providing clean water to those in need for life.

Looking around our apartment I realize that there are a lot of reminders that I spent money on myself. I’ve got books, video game systems, movies, toys, watches, shoes and more clothes than necessary. How can I reconcile having nice things when so many in the world go without the basic and necessary things?

Is it wrong to have a nice watch?

Is it wrong to have a big TV?

Is it wrong to have a pair of Star Wars Adidas shoes?

I often wrestle with the desire I have to buy stuff. I like buying stuff; it’s so much fun. If I could, I would spend all of my money on shoes, video games and toys. I’ve gotten better at curtailing that desire in order to live within a budget and have some financial peace in my marriage. However, curtailing the desire doesn’t mean that it’s gone.

I still want nice things and I don’t know if that’s wrong.

It’s all rather moot at this point, though, because simplicity has been forced upon Alycia and me. All the desire in the world doesn’t mean I’m going to get a $650 Lego set. Maybe God will use this season to show me how to live more simply and enjoy it. Which would then allow me to live simply even when it isn’t a matter of necessity. Maybe God will be so productive and effective with this season that by the end I’ll want water filtration systems more than a Lego Death Star.

At this point I’d take wanting them the same.

How do you reconcile having nice things when so many in the world go without basic and necessary things?