Hoarding... some thoughts.

Have you ever been protective of something you have in your stockpile? I've realized recently (today) that I am a food hoarder. I don't really know why I panic if certain things aren't in the house - or in abundance. There's apparently some fear in me that the world will spin out of control if we run out of nuts, berries, peanut butter, and canned soups. I'm always protective of my nuts and berries - shooing away the munchkins, measuring them out carefully for recipes - it's really quite ridiculous.

Now, I am all into stockpiling items, but that has a purpose. Stockpiling is purchasing multiples of items at a very frugal cost now (and in a big enough quantity to last you from one sale to the next) so that you don't have to run out and pay top dollar later. For example, if I can get children's pain reliever now at 1.00 a bottle - then I should get several bottles now so that I am not paying 4.99 (or more) when Eleanore wakes up with a 103.6 fever in the middle of the night and I have to run to the store cuz we're out! That is being frugal and shopping wisely.

Hoarding is stockpiling things - then not using them (or donating them). I have been hoarding the berries and nuts in my freezer for some time now - to the point that if I don't use them - they will be yucky and worthless. Now, while I got them at a great price initially, letting them go bad is *NOT* frugal! So, to start breaking my hoarding tendency with these little lovelies, I've been forcing myself to use them.

On top of having this irrational fear that there will be dire consequences if I use up the berries, there is the realization that my attitude towards this stuff is a sin! By worrying about a potential lack, I am not being thankful for what God has provided right now, nor am I trusting that He will provide later!

Matthew 6:25-34 25“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27“And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28“And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29“yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32“For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Even Christ, our Savior, has reassured us that our Heavenly Father will take care of us! If His attention to detail includes caring for the minor things of this world - how much more will He attend to His children!? Our God is a good and gracious God!

Luk 11:9-13 9“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10“For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11“What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12“or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”


Remember to trust Him. Ask Him to supply your needs! First for spiritual needs, and secondly for our earthly needs. He is a good and gracious God and has promised to provide in abundance!