Stuff

Hebrews 9:4-5

In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now. (NLT)

Taking a commercial inventory is a fact-finding and a fact-facing process. It is an effort to discover the truth about the stock-in-trade. One object is to disclose damaged or unsalable goods, to get rid of them promptly and without regret. (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 64)

Incense altar, Ark of the Covenant,
Aaron’s staff, manna,
Ten Commandments,
(first edition.)
Last year’s must-have
Christmas gift,
the gadget ready to
storm the market —
five years back,
the new electronic
masterpiece
that has them lined up
out the door.
Stuff. Just things,
though priceless or
out-of-date
discardables.
When things attain preeminence
it’s time to
set them all aside
without regret.

God, let me never put
anything ahead of
my need for a closer
relationship with you.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.