Lust is all GET—Love is all GIVE

Everything is replaceable except the people you love.

I think we all tend to forget in this rat race we call life that we’re not running the hamster wheel to make money. We are, of course, making money, and probably not enough, but that isn’t the reason we work. We work so we can have families and a place to call home. We work so we have a few bucks on the weekends to go out with friends. We work to have health benefits in case we get sick. We work to have 401Ks that will eventually allow us not to work at all.

I see myself coveting, just lightly, but coveting none the less, and I worry that I myself am susceptible to the greed of money. And that’s when I have to remind myself that there are worse things in life than driving a car without air conditioning – I can’t think of any right now, but there must be. There has to be. Sure, I’d love a magic bullet (they look like they could blend a steak in two seconds flat), an elliptical machine, and a deck. But no things in life are so important that they can’t wait. Except maybe tampons.

What good is a million dollar home with no company to entertain there? And what good is a $30K wedding (apparently that’s the average cost of a wedding these days?!?) without your family in attendance?

I might not have a garage door opener that works, or a car that doesn’t perpetually have the “check engine light” on. But I do have the most selfless mother in the world. I have the most loving, silly, kind husband. I have in-laws that treat me like I am their own: that I can laugh with and also talk to like old friends. I have a niece who falls asleep on my chest after her bottle. I have a few good friends I can confide in. These are the things we live for: and they aren’t things at all: they’re the people I love. Every possession I own can be replaced, but not a single one of the people I love could ever be.