Ahh. White Orchard…my favorite. I mean just listen to this description:
Made with white tea from China and a hint of green tea, our White Orchard white tea is a harmonious blend of mouthwatering fruits of melon and peach and pure Chinese tea.

A lovely hot tea…just the right thing on a rainy afternoon after finding my car windows rolled down during a mini inland monsoon. While the office microwave was heating up the water which soon would be mingling with that harmonious blend of mouthwatering fruits, etc., I was rinsing out that good, last drop of a fine Arabica brew lingering in my mug from the morning. Upon taking the initial sip of my freshly steeped tea, I thought to myself, “Why do I consistently settle for Ford when a bag of Cadillac is quietly and patiently waiting on my desk every day?” While it’s easy to make and provides comfort and taste for the moment, Ford also gives my teeth an unwelcomed golden sheen, creates a dependency in me that’s not so quiet and patient, and graces my breath with notes of…well, old coffee and spit. (Funny…they don’t tell you what comes after that good, last drop.) But Cadillac… Cadillac provides comfort and good taste, too, but without the three latter drawbacks. Isn’t that a lot like life? We know what we ought to do, but yet we choose what’s easy – which is often not the best. And so it goes: “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.” (Proverbs 26:11, in case you’re wondering.) So let’s all raise our mugs of steaming Cadillac and make a toast to not settling for a life that’s good only for the moment… but life with lasting and eternal goodness

You know the scene. We’ve all watched it…many times. Saturday mornings or ABC’s TGIF. It’s the scene of the teenage kid in his room, listening to music. Enter little sister. “Where’d you put Mr. Bear?!” “I don’t know where your stupid bear is.” Little sister, confident she knows exactly where to find Mr. Bear, reaches for the door handle of her (messy) teenage brother’s closet. As he cringes and manages to mutter half of a “No!,” we all know what’s coming next. Predictably (and with added canned laughter), lil sis disappears in the avalanche of soccer balls, shoes, and a hockey stick or two. Cheesy as it is, if we’re honest, that’s a little bit of our own lives depicted in Technicolor.

After moving apartments, cleaning out my car, and - most recently - sorting through a closet here at the Campus House, it’s amazing just how much STUFF we accumulate – without even knowing it! “Maybe I’ll use it someday.” “I spent some serious $$ on that.” “I need this. It really shows ‘who I am’.” Like the man who hoarded his grain in Luke 12:13-21, perhaps we find security behind our walls of clutter, choosing to trust and take pride in our own wealth than in God’s faithful provision when we are truly in need.

Are these reasons just nice masks on our materialistic idolatry? Or do they hide our doubts about who we are in Christ – doubting that we don’t need outward stuff to define who we are? And how much does the material clutter in our lives clutter our relationship with God and other people? Distracted by material things, we fail to spend time reading & reflecting on the Word or in prayer or getting together with a hurting friend. (Plus, coming from an affluent society, we don’t realize how much our consumption affects those in our world who have little. A man named Dr. Charles Birch once said, “The rich must live more simply that the poor may simply live.” But that’s a whole other subject to tackle.)

Proverbs 23:4 states, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.” I’m planning to do a little “spring cleaning”, clearing out the clutter of stuff and of busyness (and feel free to hold me to it!). Now, I do not question the importance of wise stewardship. It would be unwise and uncaring to those around us to make ourselves so materially destitute that we become burdensome to others. But can we live more simply? Can we be creative with what we already do have rather than instantly hopping over to Wal-Mart and always buying new? Can we choose to consume less and give more – give more of our stuff, money, time, and prayers? Yes to all. But the real question is “will we?”

Blahg…Blahg…Blahg

So this is the first blog I’ve ever created…and I’m not quite sure what to write. Quite honestly, the idea of blogging to me is kind of unappealing. I always get this funny sense that in blogging I’d just be a narcissist… and I’ve heard others express the same feeling. Now, I understand a blog when it’s a newsletter-type thing, keeping family and friends updated on things like work or travel in another country. But when it’s just a personal blog about whatever, I always think I’ll just become someone who is so wrapped up in herself and thinks everyone in the world needs what she has to say. Also, are we just feeding more and more into the “all about me” society that America is often prone to being? Although there are many times we could argue that we have something we need to say or people need to hear, much of the time I think we just like to hear ourselves talk. I’m certainly not innocent. It can be the same when we’re sitting around a table at lunch. Many of us do everything we can to pull the spotlight in our direction.

Now, I do believe there are plenty of times when certain words are needed. For instance, there’s a certain compilation of 66 books out there with life-giving and nourishing words among its pages needed by a hurting world. That being said, there’s John 6:68 in which Peter declared to Jesus:
“…Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (NIV).

In both Deuteronomy 8:3 & Matthew 4:4, we read: “…man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (NIV).

In regard to our own words, Ephesians 4:29. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (NIV).

Also, James 1:19. “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…” (NIV).

And finally, Psalm 19:14. “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer” (NIV).

Rather than our quantity of talk, let’s go for quality. Let’s meditate and mull over the Word of Life that’s at our fingertips. Let’s be a reflective people, a people of meaningful words that give glory to our God and do good to one another.