The Poisoning Power of Consumerism

I spent the past weekend going to several stores looking for the latest fashion trends, and found some great deals on some new fall clothes. I have always loved shopping, but after this shopping excursion, I couldn't help but think that maybe getting so wrapped up in what we buy and if it is in style or not is not a healthy way to glorify God.

Lately, I have been really trying to pray everyday and consider how to better my relationship with God in everything that I do. So, when I got home from shopping yesterday, and I felt really disoriented, I knew that something was amiss. I realized that I love to watch fashion shows, read fashion magazines and love to go shopping, but where is this really getting me? Wanting more and more and more is just not healthy. Once you get started it's very hard to stop. I need those shoes and those pants and that shirt....it can become overwhelming.

So, today I am going to slow down and try to pause in this busy life and pray that God will take away my desire to want more things and to be happy with the sufficient things that I have. I don't want to instill in my children the lust of wanting new things, and for that to happen, I must be an example.

It's weird, because I didn't spend a lot of money, I just felt it was crazy how engulfed I was becoming, and almost obsessed about what clothes I needed to get, and how that in no way was helping me become closer with God. In fact, it was hindering it.

So, my prayer today is for God to bless me by taking away the desire to want more things.

As a side note, I am not saying that shopping is a sin, I am merely saying that becoming so distracted by the "need" for more things is not a healthy way of building a relationship with God--for me.