Stories to Tell, Not Stuff to Show
Several years ago, my son-in-law was on staff at New Hope Church—first as youth pastor and then as pastor of adult ministries. When he got a job at Princeton Alliance Church in New Jersey, I was excited for him. Until I learned that he was taking my daughter and grandkids with him … to the other side of the world.
Photo by Juliana Kozoski on Unsplash
A few years after they were settled, my daughter Summer and two granddaughters flew in from the Far East (aka, New Jersey) for a week-long, all-girl vacation. We decided to play tourists in Bend.
We took the ski lift to Pine Marten Lodge on Mt. Bachelor, and the oldest granddaughter and I went mountain biking down Kent’s Trail. We ate at Jackson’s Corner, took photos at Tumalo Falls, and hiked to the top of Pilot Butte. We ate gelato from Bonta’s and cruised through the local Farmer’s Market. We played corn hole games and packed a picnic lunch to enjoy at Todd Lake. (Can you tell which one is The Gymnast and which one is Black Belt Girl?)
The Gymnast and Black Belt Girl
My devious plan in all this adventuring was to instill “love for Bend” in the granddaughters so they’d beg The Parents to move back. You see how this could work, right?
Fill your life with adventures
I ran across this quote from an author unknown and it resonated with me:
“Fill your life with adventures, not things. Have stories to tell, not stuff to show.”
Filling our lives with adventures isn’t limited to helicopter skiing or bungy-jumping. Thrill seeking can also mean taking on a mental challenge: signing up for an online drawing class, starting a neighborhood Bible study, or learning to speak a new language.
An online article titled, The Health Benefits of Being Adventurous, claims, “Whether it’s physical or mental, adventurous behavior fires up the same regions of the brain that getting a reward does. … Over time, adventurous activities may improve your brain health and help build confidence. … Adventurous people tend to have stronger feelings of satisfaction about how they’re living their lives. They have a sense of flourishing.”
I don’t know about you, but I like the idea of a sense of flourishing.
Fill your life with ‘not things’
As for the other part of that quote—not filling our lives with stuff—there are quite a few words in the Bible that address this topic. The Apostle Paul wrote these words to his spiritual son, Timothy:
“But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” – 1 Timothy 6: 6-8, ESV
God isn’t against His children having earthly possessions. But He doesn’t want us to prioritize material things above relationship with Him and others.
In a recent blog post, “Four Effective Ways to Simplify Your Life,” I wrote about prioritization, highlighting a passage in Matthew 6:19-21 about not storing up treasure on earth. There, too, Christ’s teaching was about priorities, because he knew that our hearts would follow our treasures.
I believe the Father graces us with material possessions so we can look around and see who could use our love and encouragement and excess of resources.
Movie reels
On that all-girl vacation in my hometown, I was on a mission to add to my girls’ stories (with maybe the slimmest ulterior motive). In all the outdoor activity and conversations of that week, we were creating new adventures to add to the movie reels already playing in our heads. This, instead of filling the week with shopping and stuff.
Turns out, great contentment and joy surrounded us that week.
(Also, for the record, I’ve since forgiven my son-in-law for moving my daughter and grands to the other side of the world. Of course, it helped that after 13 years, he moved his family back to Oregon—on the dark side of the Cascades, but still …)
