The price is wrong

Renting is a funny thing, especially to a man who loves his lawn. There has been a few events this week that have prodded the grey matter and all seem to be pointing in the same direction. Firstly the wife and I bought some furniture, an outdoor table, and an indoor table and a rug. We love them all and spent very little money but what staggered us was how easy it was to spend money. If we were setting up a house the old fashioned way (by buying all our furniture and not revamping cast aways that is) we could easily have spent $20,000 in one good day.

The second thing happened while I was watering the lawn, and thinking about how I would mow it again in a few days then give it a good feed with some fertiliser, and maybe find a way to remove a stump to improve the coverage.

As I gleefully plotted the stumps demise I was hit by two new thoughts. I realized that; i. regular people don’t think this much about their lawns and ii. I’m only renting, this isn’t even my lawn, mowing will be so much better when I finally own some land.

But the third event, the one that really made me take notice was when I walked past this sign.

‘Happiness for only $99‘ who would have thought, all this time struggling through life, seeking God, seeking fulfillment, trying to love and be loved, when all I needed was a $99 treadmill. I chuckled at the absurdity of this sign for a few moments until I realized that I actually believed it, only I was putting a bigger price tag on it.

I was thinking happiness was $20, 000 worth of furniture or deluding my self into thinking a man could ‘own land’.

A friend of mine is a Scottish Laird. He received this title because he is a recognized land owner in Scotland. What most people don’t know is that he owns a square foot of swamp, which was given to him one Christmas by his sister. This may seem like a farce to many of you, especially if you happen to be Scottish nobility, but I’m convinced that my friends Lairdship is no more of a stretch then a being with a lifespan of 80 or so claiming to own land that has existed for countless years and will continue to be there long after memory of that person has faded.

I have found some great perspective on this topic from C.S Lewis who writes:

"Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that is 'finding his place in it,' while really it is finding its place in him. His increasing reputation, his widening circle of acquaintances, his sense of importance, the growing pressure of absorbing and agreeable work, build up in him a sense of really being at home on Earth, which is just what we want. You will notice that the young are generally less unwilling to die than the middle-aged and the old." -- The Screwtape Letters P.132

"The sense of ownership in general is always to be encouraged. The humans are always putting up claims to ownership which sound equally funny in Heaven and in Hell, and we must keep them doing so. Much of the modern resistance to chastity comes from men's belief that they 'own' their bodies -- those vast and perilous estates, pulsating with the energy that made the worlds, in which they find themselves without their consent and from which they are ejected at the pleasure of Another! It is as if a royal child whom his father has placed, for love's sake, in titular command of some great province, under the real rule of wise counselors, should come to fancy that he really owns the cities, the forests, and the corn, in the same way as he owns the bricks on the nursery floor." -- The Screwtape Letters P.97-98

The morning after I found the sign advertising happiness I woke early, made breakfast as the sun rose outside my window, then spent the day enjoying Gods creation with great friends. Happiness doesn't cost $99, Its been given to us already.

You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. Psalm 4:7