Yard sale dilemma...

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare." - Isaiah 55:1-2

For the past couple of Saturdays, I have entered the world of competitive yard saleing. Now, we've always been casual yard salers. We like to get up, eat a leisurely breakfast, and drive around to look sometime around 9:30ish. This is a fun, family activity that David and I have always enjoyed. It's relaxing...

What I call the world of competitive yard saleing is a tad bit different. This is where you get up about 7:00 a.m., throw some clothes on your dirty body, put a pony tail holder in your hair, and run out the door with a Dr. Pepper and a granola bar. You've got directions that you pulled off of Craigs List for the local neighborhood yard sales. You have a plan, and a determined gleam in your eye. You're hunting a bargain...

Competitive yard saleing, I have discovered, is not particularly enjoyable or relaxing for me. I feel stressed to find things that I've been hoping to find for cheap, like sheets or particular house decor or a crib. And even if I don't have something in mind, the idea that somebody has been there before me if I get up too late and has beaten me to the all the "good stuff" makes me want to hurry on my way. There's too much ground to cover, and the early bird gets the worm, after all...

So I come home with some great bargains, but feel mildly dissatisfied. And I think this is because yard saleing in this way brings up feelings of covetousness and greed in my heart. I don't rejoice that another person got the thing I had my hand on a minute ago; I wish him ill for getting there before I did. Even though the thing in question isn't something I thought I had to have until 2 minutes ago.

Getting a bargain can turn into an idol. It just can. You have to work to throw that idol out of your heart just like any other idol. I've been taking myself a little too seriously with my frugality lately. Don't get me wrong. I think that looking for ways to save money is helpful and honoring to my family and to God. I will continue to try to keep costs down around here because I want to be a good steward of the money that God has provided for us. But maybe for me, that means using what I have and not going out of my way to save a buck on something we might have use for a few years from now by buying at the 7:00 a.m. yard sale feeding frenzy. =) It's all such a balancing act...