Possession #74 - Water Heater

A month ago we noticed the tell-tale drip indicating a leak in our water heater. We knew a call to the plumber was soon to be made. Why is it that these kinds of purchases feel like root canal - something you only buy under protest. And yet, these kinds of things are usually our most basic needs...hot water, cool air, good teeth...I'm thankful for these things much more than my new pair of pants or dinner at the Olive Garden. Does the fact that I have so much mean that sometimes I lose track of the basic infrastructure that keeps me going on a daily basis? I suppose cities are the same way - they'd rather buy the new swimming pool or soccer field than repave west 7th street.

Learning how to give thanks isn't just a good way to be polite. It helps one keep things in perspective... Every morning I give thanks for....yes... hot water.

Possession #73 - Bed

In grad school I made the bed. I don't mean I tucked in the covers. I mean I built the platform on which we put the mattress. When we started earning actual salaries we bought a real bed with box mattress and everything. Then it wouldn't fit up the stairs in our newest home. So we got a split box spring. Then my back started bothering me and we thought it might be the warn out top mattress, so we bought a new one which I loved but was too firm for my wife. So, we got a sleep number bed with dual controls. Right now, happiness is dual mattress controls.

All of this makes me wonder how primitive people managed to sleep at night with only rocks and leaves and stuff to sleep on. Even the more recent beds with ropes and straw seem guaranteed to keep a person up all night. Either we're all sleeping a lot better these days or our backs have become extremely picky. Most nights I'm just glad to have this wonderful place to crawl in with a nice thick quilt on top. I am truly thankful for this bit of luxury and will think twice before heading out on another camping trip.

Possession #72 - Toy Trucks

You know you're old when the toy truck you played with as a kid is now being sold as "vintage." These toys are so old that I can hardly even remember playing with them. But for sure, these old metal behemoths have outlasted the countless cheap plastic toys that came later. On the other hand, these things could really pack a wallop when wielded by one's big mean brother (if a person had such a person).

I think it's too bad that us old people sometimes think we've outgrown toys. Everyone needs a few fun toys around the house and regular required play time. It's downright unhealthy to spend all day at desks and never crawling around a rug or digging in the dirt.

Possession #71 - Slippers

Slippers are making a comeback. Once they were the mandatory in-home footwear. Then they became a dead giveaway for a nerd. And now, everyone seems to be wearing slippers all the time everywhere. Personally, I can't quite abide with slippers out in public. It would feel like walking around with only my underwear on...OK, some people are comfortable with this also. But in my home, slippers are a true sign that work is over and I'm easing into a relaxing evening.

It's taken awhile to find the right slippers. The ones that aren't too tight...not too loose. The ones that keep your feet warm but not too warm. A good pair of slippers should feel like...an old friend - easygoing and comfortable. Maybe I could amend Ecclesiastes to say, "There's a time for shoes and there's a time for .... slippers!

Possession #70 - Circus Poster

Friends of ours had neighbors who discovered a bunch of old circus posters in their attic. We took a couple of them and especially liked this one of the monkeys. It appears to have been from about 1943. When I was young, we often went to the circus which was usually in another town. One year when I was in college, the Royal Lichtenstein Quarter Ring Sidewalk Circus came to our campus and totally entranced me. I found out later it was run by a Jesuit priest who preferred clowning to preaching. Perhaps this was what led to my post-college digression into all things clown-like for several years.

I've always liked the rebellious nature of clowns who often get stereotyped as happy and friendly. The truth is, in history, they tend to be the troublemakers and often had to run for their lives if their jokes snuck too close to the truth for the king to handle. The world can always use a good clown...maybe it always needs one.

Possession #69 - Bird Feeder

We like feeding the birds (and occasional squirrel) which congregate outside our kitchen window. I'm pretty sure that my estimation of my charitable giving to the birds is inflated. The animal kingdom would probably get along much better with less human interference no matter how benevolent. I'm probably the one the gains more from the bird feeder equation. I enjoy seeing them close by. Their daily presence reminds me that my species isn't the only occupant of this space.

Possession #68 - Music Cabinet

We recently purchased this cabinet for the purpose of storing music and instruments. Both of us, over the years, have accumulated a wide array of these things including the Native American flutes that you see on top of the cabinet. Generally speaking, Jean plays everything that takes air and I play things that need strummed. Music is something we're not afraid of having too much of. Most of the time we wish we had more time for it.

The cabinet is from a our favorite Amish woodworking store. Again, the local connection and fine craftwork make it something we're happy to put in our home.

Possession #67 - Sock Drawer

I've clearly violated Clutterbug's first rule for organizing your sock drawer which is to get rid of all your unnecessary socks. As she points out, with only 7 days in a week, how many socks does a person really need? Clearly I work with the theory that the socks on the bottom of the drawer, while not actually worn on my feet, help to push the upper layer of socks towards the top of the drawer where they are more easily acquired.

And having not entirely left yesterday's category, we know that the best use of old socks is for....sock puppets! Truly socks are a wonder of nature!

Possession #66 - Puppets

Some more puppets from the dark recesses of my home storage areas. These ones, a fire breathing (actually baby powder spewing) dragon and a puppy. The puppy was from my one and only attempt at marionette work which is harder than it looks and it looks mighty intimidating. Actually, the word marionette comes from the middle ages when puppets were often used to do little church dramas of Bible stories. I guess pastors have always been looking for something interesting to take everyone's mind off the sermon!

Possession #65 - Pillar of the Church

Pastors tend to collect stuff from the different churches where they worked. This is an actual bit of the building from the last church where we served. We will never lead worship in such a beautiful space. It seems like beauty can work like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can point toward something larger than itself. Beauty can enlarge your view of life and create awe and wonder. On the other hand, you can get stuck on the beautiful object and not look beyond it at the mystery that gives beauty its life. I remember that there was such a debate at the time when the ancient Athenians were contemplating building the Parthenon. Some thought it would point people to the power of the gods. Others thought it was unnecessary ostentation which would detract from the gods. I'm glad they ended up building it. However...simplicity is also a good thing. Obviously, I'm not good at coming to decisions.

Possession #64 - Dog Leashes

As an experienced father I shouldn't have fallen for it. I knew it was a bad idea taking our children to visit some cute puppies. Soon afterward the lobbying began. Written promises that they would walk and pick up and feed. Soon after, we acquired our half-lab half-basset from the owners of the mother (typically, it was an absentee father).

I grew up with one, so I was already a "dog" kind of person. But I wasn't really aware of all the collateral expenses. Our young puppy quickly made hash of a dozen or so leashes until her bite-everything-that-moves-or-doesn't-move stage was over. We still have to regularly purchase special dietary rich dog food in 5000 ton bags, poop bags, crates (three), pillows (three), bones (5 million and counting) and allergy medicine and etc... Our kids are now off to college. When they left they left they remarked how much we would miss all the chores that they did around the house...like walking the dog. Only experienced parents can enjoy the kind of knowing laugh that comes from such observations.

Still, all things considered, our lives have been richer for having this big, smelly, messy dog around our house. If anything, dogs help remind you that life is ultimately beyond your control. By the way, you can't resist this doggish youtube video...

Possession #63 - Kermit Puppet

On St. Patrick's Day I suppose that it would be appropriate to mention... "It ain't easy being green." In college I built my own Kermit the Frog puppet from a generic frog puppet that I found. I made eyes for it out of ping pong balls that looked more Kermit-ie and I designed a banjo from stuff I found lying around the dorm. As I recall, I won a dorm talent show by having him sing "Rainbow Connection" from a log I made out of an oatmeal container. You know you've got a real passion for something when you act this crazy.

I think it's probably important for each of us to have some idea of our passion/s. If we don't spend at least some of our time on our passion, then life can get rather lifeless.

Possession #62 - Puppets

When I was a kids, I mangled socks into puppets and crafted stages out of cardboard boxes and performed in front of family and tortured guests. In Junior High I performed my "Tribes of the Kalahari" with socks rather than give a speech. My teacher thought it was creative. Little did she know that I much preferred hiding behind a puppet theater than standing in front of classmates and talking.

For seven or eight years I designed and built a new puppet show every year that our local arts council would offer to teachers for their classrooms. It was a great opportunity for me to try out different puppet styles (hand puppets, marionettes, ventriloquism, rod puppets). These puppets are from a show featuring "Digger" the mole and the kid who magically floated away from his home for an adventure. Can't quite remember what the snake was doing...

Puppets are one of those passions that have stayed with me most of my life. And like lots of these kinds of things, I don't know why...it just is. This summer, for obvious reasons, I'm teaching a course on the life and teachings of Mr. Rogers - not only a puppeteer and Presbyterian, but a wonderful human being. It's worth it to watch this youtube remix of Mr. Rogers.

Possession #61 - Car

A recent study shows that the average American household owns 2.3 cars. We just bought our 4th. I'm just about having a fit owning 4 cars for 4 people. It seems outrageous. And yet, of course, I have my perfectly reasonable justifications. With two kids off in college in two opposite directions from our home, we have sent them both off with a vehicle so that we don't have to take several hours to pick them up and drop them off at both ends of vacation times. One college vehicle is a cheap used car we bought for just this purpose. The other is our oldest vehicle that has now been moved into the "cheapo" category. We also wanted a more fuel efficient car to make these long trips to visit kids. But still...4 vehicles for 4 people? It seems excessive.

Most of us have become quite adept at justifying purchases like ours. And I don't want to dismiss all those justifications. The reasoning seems pretty good. That's what makes them justifications and not simply self-deceptions. Still, when simply owning one vehicle pushes me into the category of the top 10% in wealth among the world's people, I pause. I pause. Why me? Why do I get to have such luxuries in my life? I'm certainly not more deserving. I try to hold lightly to these things - to my justifications, to my guilt, to the possessions themselves. Hold on lightly...no grasping.

Possession #60 - Dining Room Table

One of the objects I'll always remember from my parent's home is the big dining room table. It was constantly expanding and contracting with its extra leaves in order to accommodate friends, family and other assorted guests. So, when we started adding furniture to replace the crates and loose boards that made up our grad school housing, we found a nice oak expandable dining room table. I can't say it gets quite the use as my parents' table, but it's an object with an intention - to make our home a place of welcome and hospitality. Unlike my parents' table, it also serves other purposes: Daily mail sorting table, family game table, music stand, and bill sorting surface. Any big flat surface in a home is bound to accumulate lots of assorted stuff. Luckily it gets too much traffic to gather dust.

Possession #59 - Navajo Blanket

We have collected a number of pieces of native american craft. Who knows why certain kinds of art appeal to one person and not to someone else. Maybe our artistic wiring works like personalities - each one unique yet all of them grounded in the human experience. I'm not sure exactly what my artistic personality is, but it has more than just an aesthetic component. Like other kinds of things, artistic things are more than just brush strokes, color choices or composition. They have...dare I say...soul. Maybe that's why we like these things. They bring something else along with them.

Possession #58 - Pillow

I'm a big fan of sleep. I've rarely had trouble falling and staying asleep which caused minor moments of consternation during the infant crying in the middle of the night years. Naps are also one of life's gifts which I regularly take at least once or twice a week (almost always on Sunday afternoon). One thing, however, is important to my entire sleeping process - the proper pillow. A bad pillow can ruin a good night's sleep and leave behind a crooked neck for a week. So I almost always bring a pillow along with me when I travel. I'm currently off on a sermon-writing retreat (slight pause for blog posting) and it's going much better knowing that tonight I'll have a familiar pillow to go with the unfamiliar bed. Maybe pillows are just the grown-up version of the stuffed animals we kept with us as kids - a mildly comforting bit of familiarity. Whenever I travel, it's good to bring a bit of home with me in the form of some object to keep me connected to that which I love. Sweet dreams!

Possession #57 - Cow Bell

When both my wife and I were ordained, my father (also ordained) gave each of us a cow bell. The bell is intended to be a reminder of our callings as leaders. I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea of being the bell ringer of the herd, although the off-tune clangyness of the bell sounds about right. Leadership is always a delicate balance between leading and allowing one's self to be led. Every once in a great while it feels like I get the balance somewhat right. Nonetheless, I keep the bell hanging around on the off chance that it might come in handy for some bovine adventure.

Possession #56 - Bread Maker

Labor Saving devices always seem like a good idea at the time. Like these turn of the last century irons designed to put fancy ruffles on the sleeves of shirts...I'm sure they made someone think they were zipping head long into the future! Likewise, my bread maker makes wonderful bread with little effort, but sometimes I wonder if I'm losing something without all the messy flour and effort-full kneading. Sometimes, it seems like more effort might be a better idea than less.

I'm ever so slightly annoyed by those clever and cute AT&T commercials which have little children expounding on the idea that "Faster is better than slower" and "bigger is better than smaller." Yes, perhaps, at times...yet the march towards so-called "progress" is rife with pitfalls. Many of us now see that faster and bigger come with a cost which we are willing, at times, to pay. But sometimes not. For now, I'm keeping the bread maker.

Possession #55 - Digital Clocks

The largest digital clock in the world is on top of a tower in Düsseldorf, Germany. What I don't have in size, I make up for in quantity. It actually took the combined brain power of the entire family to track down all the places in the house where we have digital clocks. I gave up wearing a wrist watch a couple years ago because of the relative ubiquity of clocks. I don't suppose it would make much sense today to have a song that asks, "Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?" How can you possibly ever be that far from some object beaming the correct time for you night and day.

Of course this poses a particular challenging issue on evenings such as tonight when the clocks are supposed to change. I'm not sure I can quite remember the secret formula for changing each individual clock...what a blessing it is that some of them change all on their own! Don't forget!!

Possession #54 - Toaster Oven

I grew up with an old pop-up toaster which always threatened to electrocute you if you stuck your knife in it to extricate a stubborn piece of toast. But for many years it's been the toaster oven that's been the main stay of the kitchen. It once caught fire when we bought a newer more efficient model.

Looking at the electric appliances littering my countertop, I think of the Youtube video I saw of a tent city where people live more or less off the grid. It's hard to consider trading up to a more efficient toaster oven when other people are making toast over a camp fire. My research hasn't quite discovered who figured out in the first place that bread needed to be heated up in order to eat it.

Possession #53 - The Christmas Door

OK, so believe it or not, I'm posting my 53rd possession today on my 53rd birthday. And no, I didn't plan the one skipped day earlier in the week when the modem crashed. New modem is installed, the land line has been disconnected, cable provider switched and these are way too many changes for an old man to deal with!

I know it's not Christmas (although there is a fair amount of snow outside), but our Christmas Door usually stays decorated all year round (either that or by the time we think of deconstructing it the next Christmas is already upon us). We stick all our Christmas cards up on this door so that we can see pictures and notes from all our friends and family and to remind ourselves to get our Christmas missive out at least by Labor Day.

I love objects that help to remind me of all the connections in my life (Either that, or I don't like to clean). These things keep me from seeing my stuff as merely utilitarian. Instead, stuff can be a part of the connecting threads of life (they also help to jog my failing memory).

Possession #52 - Medicine Cabinet

Yes, I actually have medicine in the medicine cabinet. My body is old and creaky and this stuff helps to alleviate some of the creaks. Some of you might be thinking that you have considerably more medications in your household ... well, this, indeed isn't all of our stuff. In fact, one of the most expensive things I pay for (along with my insurance) is a medication for my Crohn's Disease which doesn't sit in my medicine cabinet but must be taken via I.V. at the local hospital. I am incredibly thankful that I live in an age when modern medicine can so easily treat things that years ago might have killed me. And yet, there seems to be a dark side to a culture in which we we might rely a bit much on chemical cures for everything. Hopefull, we're all coming to a greater understanding of the complexity of life. Even as science delves deeper into the physical causes of things, the mystery of the human body intensifies. "We are fearfully and wonderfully made," says Psalm 139.

Possession #51 - Computer Modem

There was no post yesterday because my modem stopped working (like it does about every other year) and the snowstorm came. So I'm posting this possession on the last day that it will be in my house - tomorrow it goes the way of the Dodo Bird only to be replaced by a new frustrating piece of modern technology. Every now and then I need a technology meltdown so that I don't come to expect everything to come to me quite so instantly.

I read an article about a company that's spending $300 million to build a new transatlantic cable to shave 6 milliseconds from the present 65-millisecond transit time that it takes to send computer information between London and New York. Said one stock broker in the article, "The speed-of-light limitation is getting annoying." I hope I don't become so addicted to speed and flawless networking that I get frustrated by the slower-than-sludge speed of light. "Wait!" says that Psalms fairly regularly. Maybe they had the same problem of impatience even back when nothing moved faster than a camel. I'm working on it...as long as I can get this darn modem working!

Possession #50 - Picture frame

I purchased that picture frame right after I married the most wonderful woman in the world and now it sits on her dresser amid a variety of objects, most of which I did not purchase (although the perfume is not inexpensive and is frequently included in the Christmas stocking). I mention this because today is the birthday of the wonderful woman who wears the aptly named perfume. I suppose that both perfume and picture frames fit in that category of things which aren't very practical but often add much to one's life. I'm guessing that some of my favorite stuff roughly fits into this category, not mere flotsam and jetsam. Happy Birthday!

Possession #49 - Night Light

This one little thing has made a big difference in our lives. I can't count the number of nights our children slept better because of a night light in the room. It's kept a few toes from being stubbed, walls from being crashed into and facilitated late night trips to the bathroom without serious incident. We used to pack them on all family vacations.

I remember a few childhood fears of my own lurking in the darker regions of my bedroom. I little light goes a long way towards keeping the unknown at bay. Of course, darkness isn't always a bad thing. Mystery and the unknown are important parts of life, but at night when sleep is what we want, how ironic that sometimes it a little bit of light that helps us close our eyes to the world.

Possession #48 - Crystal Glasses

These are real crystal glasses with actual gold stuff on them. I don't think we've ever dared to use them. They come from my wife's aunt and look beautiful on the lighted shelf of our china cabinet - a piece of furniture designed to hold beautiful things that are never used.

I wouldn't say that I've ever been tempted to put plastic covers on the couch, but at times I verge on being overly obsessive about keeping stuff from breaking or even looking...well, used. I'm afraid that if we use an object for its intended purpose, it might in some way ruin it...what if something goes wrong! As I grow older, I'm trying to loosen up a bit. I don't have heart palpitations at every scratch in the table and I let the dog rub her slobbery nose on my carpet (OK, slight palpitations). A part of living is allowing yourself to actually live in your house instead of trying to simply save it for show. I don't know why I'm so paranoid about this since I've always had an aversion to other peoples' homes that look more like museums than actual places where people live. I'm trying hard to find the joy in all my stuff instead of just keeping it safe for a future that never seems to be quite here. I guess what I'm trying to say is...life is meant to be lived. The rest is just for show.