Consuming Contented Consumerism by Judy Biltcliffe

I was just going to write in the comment column regarding Steve's post "Countdown to Oblivion" but decided to try my hand at the real deal. Anything I might have to say on the afforementioned subject would be too long and too revealing that I may need to get a life. This way I can actually look like I'm doing something constructive and meaningful that will bring about some sort of solution regarding said post. Just to let you know in advance, I don't have one. A solution, that is. So you may want to turn back now.
After ten minutes of sitting in front of that sentence I am reminded of why I stopped writing in the first place, too much work. Effort and excertion, that which ultimately drove us to New Times Roman. Always looking for the better, easier way. And what's wrong with that? It's better and it's easier. What kind of idiot doesn't want better and easier? Me, that's who. I mean ,I just got my first cell phone. In the end it was getting too difficult to find a pay phone and the last communication I made on one was in a downpour, thus finally driving me into the waiting arms of modern design. And this whole cyber thing, don't get me going on that. It was just time to come down off the telephone pole. And you really can't get a hold of anybody anymore anyway unless they check their E-mail.
Yes Steve, there is a Santa Clause, and he's got way too much stuff in his bag. It's piled high and arranged in a most attractive and enticing way. And those horns he's sporting under that fuzzy hat have a way of making most of us believe that we actually need what's being offered. Somewhere along the way the lines got blurred as to what we want and what we actually need. And if you live with what you want long enough you may start believing you need it. But the things mentioned in Countdown, the siding, the car repairs, those are, unfortunately, due to the way things are, necessities. Ya gotta take care of your stuff. The Bible says so. It's in proverbs somewhere. Great, now I have to make an effort and excert myself to find it in my concordance and I know the word stuff isn't in there....You'll never believe this, the word stuff actually resides in this concordance. Belongings, possessions, goods, supplies, things. It says "see baggage". (I think it should say chains). Here it is folks. Proverbs 12:27 says the diligent man prizes his possessions. Why? I think it's because God has given us these things to somehow advance the Kingdom.
I have no more to offer on that, I'm not God. But I will offer this. Consumerism and consumerist societies are better than the alternative which basically comes down to a choice of communism, fascism, Sharia law or Africa. Slavenka Drakulic writes in How We Survived Communist Rule and Even Laughed, "without a choice of cosmetics and clothes, with bad food and hard work and no spare time, it wasn't hard to create the special kind of uniformity that comes out of equal distribution of poverty and the neglect of people's real needs. There was no chance for individualism".
Very few people who manage to escape these kinds of countries ever opt to go back. At least not if they want to eat. But they see the absurdity of the disparity of it all. Drakula writes, "but even to look at the richness of a consumer society becomes difficult, there's the feeling that it's just absurd to look at so many things and so many kinds of one thing. It has to stop somewhere, this plentitude doesn't make any sense. Coming from a world of shortages, one's idea of plenty is mainly fruit, meat, vegatables, shampoo, soap, toilet paper. First you discover an immense greed, a wish to buy everything-then you discover powerlessness-and the very essence of it, poverty."
The apostle Paul wrote, (can I piggyback or can I piggyback?) "I have learned to be content in any and every situation". And it's not that I am. I mean, who would think you have to learn to be content with no lack of material wealth? I wrestle with the discontent that comes from fighting those chains that keep me from serving Jesus in the way I think I would serve Him if they didn't keep dragging me back. I've learned the hard way that contentedness is begotten of gratefulness. Not that I'm always grateful, either. You know how it is, you don't appreciate what you've got until you don't have it anymore. So I'll just have to live with my stuff, chains and all. Not the worst option in the world, especially when I consider that some of the links in the chain are of my own making. And that basically means that I have some power of of my own to break free. Not to mention the power He gives.
I'll finish with lyrics to a song Sarah Kelly sings:

Contentment is the art
Yes contentment is the answer
So be still my heart
As you learn to love