What Matters Most

Matt and I had a great conversation yesterday about "stuff". It's so funny to see so many young people get caught up in having stuff- huge houses, new cars, and all the big boy toys. We found that each of our dads had similar sayings regarding having a lot of material things. Both Neil and my dad used to say something to the effect of, "all the stuff is great but who's gonna take care of it?". It's so true! You work to acquire it, then you waste your time and money taking care of it. Then our conversation turned to what matters most.

What matters most in this life and the next is family. Our spouses and our children are the only thing that should make us want to get up in the morning, go to work, and earn a living. Our goals and values can become so meaningless when we strive to work our hardest so that we can accumulate more and more things that we have to leave behind when we leave this world anyway. Our gains are lost on a drive to have. And what does this teach our children? When they grow up having everything they could ever dream of and much more than they truly need are we setting them up for unhappiness and failure if they can't fill their desire for more and more "stuff"?

It's apparent that shallowness runs very deep in this world. Just take a moment to look at any random blog. It's somewhat of a snap shot into the thoughts and values of that person. I'm amazed at the amount of blogs with pictures of houses and toys with family pictures sprinkled in here and there for good measure. It's easy to forget what matters and get caught up in having.

I found several pictures from over the past few years that I love. It's a great reminder of what truly matters most. Whether it was in Matt's tiny one bedroom apartment or on vacation, these kids show how simple it is to be happy.