When you get outside American culture, you see a clearer picture of the things that bog us down.  We are probably the most materialistic culture on earth. Our cars are bigger, our houses are bigger, our malls are bigger and our burgers are bigger.

Yet none of this is necessary for life.  None of it lasts. We all know in our gut that relationships are far more important than our stuff.  But I wonder if we aren't slow to acknowledge that in fact, there is an inverse relationship between relationships and stuff.  Buy a new boat and eventually it will spring a leak. Your car will need to be washed. Your house needs cleaning and the bigger your lawn, the more mowing you do. Hire a lawn service and you work longer hours to pay them. Bottom line: The more stuff you own, the fewer relationships you can have. When you look at it that way, why wouldn't you choose relationships?

Our stuff should serve us, but so many of us in America serve our stuff. We have to work jobs that reward our productivity as opposed to being able to work at our dreams. More of us need to hold a massive garage sale to liquidate all the junk that complicates our lives and impedes the fulfillment of our dreams.

More of us need to sell our big houses, unburden ourselves of our boats, and simplify our hard-to-maintain lifestyles. Our quality of life will go up as we reprioritize. We need to move away from the noise and activity that complicates rather than edifies and start investing more in our relationships.  Our children don't need to have so many toys. They don't need the best education if it comes at the expense of discipleship and our time.

I'm talking about the kingdom here. It's the pearl of great price. It's treasure we can't see that got buried and needs for us to discover it. It's a distant echo we dream of but struggle to hear upon waking.

Maybe it's time to start scheduling that garage sale and get on with your life.