I am that girl, sadly.
I am a material girl in a material world.
Our ultra materialistic society bombardes us from all sides. Wherever we look, wherever we go, and wherever we don't; it's there.
It's there when you walk into a store, not previously wanting anything, but feeling like you should buy something, because it's there. Surely I need shampoo, or at least a pack of gum?
And it's there when you walk aimlessly through the mall, feeling perhaps relatively content with your material status, but are suddenly struck by an itch for a new pair of running shoes, because you can.
The unsaid, but ubiquitious message of materialism permeates the very fabric of our culture. And the silent, subversive message is this: discontentment. At it's root, this is materialism. This is the message of the culture.
It is the sickly and infectious belief that what we have is not enough, and even worse than that is the greater underlying belief that we are not enough.
And that somehow the addition of material things to our lives will enhance, make better, or somehow satisfy the unnamed longings of our hearts. But, which sadly will only serve to deepen and increase these insatiable desires.
Materialism also connotes that the material world is our greater reality; that this is it. That we must rely on what we can touch, taste, smell, or feel, to determine what we are and who we are.
But this is a fallacy. We are called to be in, but not of, this material world.
And it is encouraging to know that this is not, in fact, our greater reality. This material world is passing away. And we are called to pursue our greatest reality, which we cannot touch, taste, smell, or feel.
And even more encouraging is to realize we are indeed not defined by this material world or its material things, but by an eternal Father and our inheritance in His kingdom. As the good book says, "we hope for what is unseen, not for what is seen."
This material girl chooses to hope for what is unseen.
I must pray for new eyes.
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