Don’t Sweat the Material Stuff

Today, I stood in a house that is currently in a probate case in chancery court, waiting for an auction house to bid on the contents.

As I watched the auction workers dig through boxes of personal items…I had a sobering thought.

One day, this is going to happen to my home. To my possessions. My friends. This should be a sobering thought for all of us.

We spend so much of our lives pursuing material possessions, amassing collections, and filling the rooms of our homes with things that mean so much to us and have so many personal memories attached to them.

But when we die, those personal memories disappear, and our loved ones are left with boxes and rooms full of items that could easily become more of a burden than a benefit.

If I’ve learned anything from standing in that house tonight, it is this:  The old saying is true. You truly cannot take it with you.

Wouldn’t it be better to make sure that those personal items that are precious to you are given to the ones who would cherish them most?

I talked to my sister yesterday. She told me that my niece, Ashley, has started baking cakes as a side business.

I smiled, thinking of the over three decades that my own Mama Eunice catered weddings and events and baked cakes for families all over the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

It’s nice to know that a family member is continuing the tradition.

Then I thought about the bins of cake decorating supplies Mama Eunice gave me several years before she died.

Pans, cake décor, and a commercial mixer with all types of attachments for baking.

I realized that she would be the perfect person in the family to inherit those items from me. But not when I pass away.

Why wait, when she could use the items now?

So I sent her a text message…and this week, I will be pulling out the bins and giving her an assortment of pans and decorating items, as well as that commercial mixer that Mama Eunice worked so hard to be able to afford during her catering years.

I also realized, once again, that just a few years after we have passed away, few people will remember the size of our home, the labels on our clothing, the make and model of our cars, or the amount of money in our bank accounts.

But they WILL remember the way you made them feel when you were around them, the community and charity work that you performed in your lifetime, the way your home was always welcoming and warm, and the fact that you were a good and truly loyal friend.

So, in addition to giving some of those precious articles in my home to family members who will cherish them the way I do, and will give them to their own children in the future, I also plan to work on ensuring that my life is not filled with only material items.

I plan to continue to fill my life with good memories, good food, good friends, and good work in my own community.

Y’all have a great week…and I hope you all fill your own lives with the things that truly matter.