The gorgeous abundance

A polite snow is falling, and the little St. Francis in the back yard and the Jizo in the front garden both wear white caps. On the bushes outside my study window, the remaining round red berries hang at the tips of thin, flexible branches, where no bird or squirrel has been able to reach them from a perch. Some of the berries also have caps of white snow. I haven't seen any birds this morning. Here is a quote from St. Francis -

My sister birds, you owe much to God, and you must always and in everyplace give praise to Him; for He has given you freedom to wing through the sky and He has clothed you... you neither sow nor reap, and God feeds you and gives you rivers and fountains for your thirst, and mountains and valleys for shelter, and tall trees for your nests. And although you neither know how to spin or weave, God dresses you and your children, for the Creator loves you greatly and He blesses you abundantly. Therefore... always seek to praise God.

This is lovely. I try to remember often the abundance of my life and be grateful. Yesterday we were reminded of the abundance of this time and place in a very different environment, Best Buy. We were there to buy ourselves a plasma TV for Christmas to replace our 13-year-old Sony. At least a dozen people waited in line to check out, some of them holding boxed flat-screen TVs. We threaded past them, past camcorders and telephone answering machines and games, and outdoor speakers that looked somewhat like rocks and tall skinny indoor speakers, and many items I didn't understand.

I know many people deplore this aspect of our culture - yet it is part of what people abroad yearn for, the abundance, the stuff, the possibility of work, of being able to buy some of this. It's not so bad, living in a warm, dry house, feeling safe. It's almost crazy giddy to feel the abundance in Best Buy, which you could think of as a toy store. Outside the store, cars danced in and out of parking spaces.

I appreciate having all this. At the same time, I am constantly dealing with the things I own - too many things! Right now it's too many Christmas ornaments and lights, things we're not using this year and won't take to senior housing us if we ever move there. Well, I say to myself, then that will be the time to let them go. Meanwhile the issue is to organize them and label the boxes.