Renovation of the Heart thoughts

We're reading Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard...

"Those are surely right who have recognized in pride the root of all disobedience. We think we are "big enough" to take our life into our own hands and disobey, instead of "humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God." And this will certainly be driven by the thought that if we do not take things into our own hands, we will not get what we want -- another blow to our pride. Our attitude should be, to the contrary, that there is no particular reason why I should get what I want, because I am not in charge of the universe."

We also ran into a friend from church and got to talking about Thanksgiving shopping. He admitted to getting up at 5 a.m. to hit the sales. He said he found himself getting very anxious and stressed about organizing which store he needed to hit first, and could he coordinate with his wife to maximize his shopping time? Would there be enough of the items in stock that he could get his $10 printer or 50% off camera? And then he realized "It's Just Stuff." And there's no particular need to have This Stuff. It would be nice, but was it worth actually elevating his heart rate about? Worth being irritable with his wife or son in line or finding a parking space? No. So, he went shopping, and he got a couple items and he didn't get a couple more. And the world kept spinning, even without a brand new $10 printer.

These are two nice reminders at a time when we're getting irritated and stressed about the lack of progress on the Shaver house. The sooner it finishes, the sooner we sell it, the sooner we get our money. And the sooner we get our money? The sooner we can spend it! At times we find ourselves "putting aside" a few thousand here or there from what we plan to invest to spend on toys or home improvements or vacations. Other times, we're rolling it all into the investments. But in either case, we have to step back and say "it's just stuff." And say, what particular reason do I have to get my way in this scenario? If the market fluctuates, if the weather turns nasty, if our subcontractors are flakey, we know we did our best and we know God will meet our needs. Ultimately, that's all we need to know.