The following excerpt from my book — The View From Down in Poordom: Reflections on Scriptures Addressing Poverty — is another in my series of posts to keep up your awareness of the poor during the holidays.
The excerpt, in the book’s section on Spiritual Poverty, is from a chapter titled “Aiming to be More Poor.” The chapter is based on Philippians 4:10-13, in which the Apostle Paul says:
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In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things in him who strengthens me.”
My book, available at Amazon books and Barnes & Noble online, is divided into two sections: One on Material Poverty and the other on Spiritual Poverty. I note in the book that we all, rich and poor alike, tend to suffer from various forms of spiritual poverty.
We shower our children and grandchildren with all kinds of dazzling, high-dollar toys for Christmas, birthdays, and special events: dolls that actually cry and wet themselves (and Lord only knows what else) and toy assault rifles the size of sofas that (oh boy!) light up when “fired.”
Yet little ones all over the world, rich and poor alike, still attach themselves to humble rag dolls and teddy bears, rubber balls and wooden blocks, tiny toy cars and fire trucks, and rubber duckies that quack. You may have noticed how content a child in diapers is to have pots and pans to bang on with a wooden spoon.
In the mountainous part of Belize where I live, I’ll often see some child, who might have toes sticking out of worn-out, hand-me-down shoes, tying a long string around the neck of a big, plastic Coke bottle with a few pebbles he dropped in it for rattling. Then he’ll go running up or down a hill with string in hand and the bottle bouncing and rattling behind him.
I see a lot of older boys outside their homes after school playing marbles, that simplest of games, or girls playing hopscotch. And I see lots of tots entertaining themselves by banging on pots and pans with sticks.
Maybe the compelling simplicity of these toys and games says something about how less is more in terms of happiness and contentment, even for us adults who love all our electronic games and the latest “toys” from the mall, Apple Store, Best Buy, Walmart, or (Lord help us!) gun shows. Our purpose in parenting and role modeling is to teach our children well, but that doesn’t mean we can’t also learn from our children.
Living in a state of free and easy contentment of the sort that enabled Paul to sing in a cheerless prison comes naturally to children. That’s why Jesus admonished his disciples to let go of the little ones who approached him, saying, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:17 NRSV).
But where can we turn for contentment in a culture of such massive commercialism and consumerism that leads to such mass discontent? We know that contentment can’t be bought at a cut-rate price in the form of a new and wider-screen TV, and yet the forces of retail sales know our weak spots—especially during, of all times, the Christmas season.
Practicing more “Enoughism” and less consumerism leads to inner peace and contentment.
I’m as weak as anyone else. Nothing would make me happier than to walk out of a Best Buy or some other big-box store with the most dazzling TV the store has to offer on Black Friday. I’d be happy not only with such an electronic jewel, but also happy to have bought it at a heavily reduced price. Buying an expensive new toy like that makes me feel good.
Being the capitalist that I am—being the beneficiary of capitalism that produced the wonder of this computer I’m writing on — I love and desire better and more comforting creature comforts as much as anybody. We all want lots of stuff to make our lives as easy and convenient as can be. We want lots of money and things that make us happy and enhance our quality of life and give us a sense of security. It’s only natural. (And I’m a natural man in that regard.)
The beauty of capitalism —- practiced ethically and justly -— is that it gives us the incentive to work hard and improve our lot in life and buy great stuff in the process.
But the coolest stuff on Earth can’t fill up what’s known in traditional theology as “the God-shaped hole” within us. Only God can fill that void. Contentment lies in the life of the spirit, fulfilled by God and things money can’t buy.
Buying and accumulating possessions is fine as long as we acknowledge that we’re all plagued by varying degrees of stress, anxiety, worry, and insecurity that those possessions can’t relieve. And by the way, acknowledging our flaws and weaknesses in honest-to-God self awareness instead of ignoring or denying them can go a long way in diminishing our stresses and insecurities that lead to our cravings for everything “new and improved.”
Jesus, who knew and understood the human condition better than any merchant of mass merchandizing or anyone else ever will, also understood that we’re all plagued by anxiety and insecurities that we try so hard to deny—and to hide from others. But if we can’t be content with the love and peace and grace and harmony that Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Season represent, nothing we can buy during that hyper time of the year will give us the relief of contentment.
