Less Is More

Good morning! I have a math question for everyone. When is one or two bigger than twenty five? Let me tell you a story and see if you can figure out the answer.

Once there was a girl who received her very first Barbie doll when she was just five years old. Oh she loved to play with that Barbie! She took it everywhere she went and she took very, very good care of that doll. She dressed her in pretty clothes every day and tucked her in at night in her Barbie pajamas.

Then that Christmas, she received a SECOND Barbie doll. This was perfect! Now Barbie number one had a friend to play with. The girl took very good care of both Barbie dolls – dressing them, tucking them at night . . .

Then she found she had enough money to buy a THIRD Barbie. Well, what could be better than two Barbie dolls except THREE Barbie dolls! It took a little longer to dress them and tuck them in at night – and it WAS harder to bring three Barbie dolls everywhere but still it was good.

Then the word got out that the girl really liked Barbie dolls. Everyone started giving her Barbie dolls. She collected Biologist Barbie with the real little microscope, Secretary Barbie with the real little typewriter, Teacher Barbie with the real little chalk board. One day her aunt sent her a box with FIVE new Barbie dolls in it that she had gotten on clearance at Target. Before she knew it, the girl had TWENTY FIVE Barbie dolls.

She could not take them everywhere she went. She couldn’t dress them every day. She couldn’t tuck them at night so she started rudely tossing them in a big box. And her mother never stopped saying, “CLEAN UP THIS BARBIE MESS!”

The girl realized that MAYBE she had too many Barbie dolls. She was learning what I like to call Kingdom Math. In Kingdom Math, God gives us good gifts – like a special Barbie – and that gift is GOOD. But when we try to get too much of anything – that gift becomes a burden instead of a treasure. LESS becomes MORE! One or Two becomes bigger than Twenty-Five.

We need to be careful that we enjoy the gifts that we receive and not try to collect more than we can take care of in our day. Jesus tells us in the book of Luke that we must watch out for all kinds of greed for our life is not measured by our possessions. When we learn to look to God for happiness, God can keep surprising us with new ideas and gifts. I like surprises – almost as much as I like Barbie dolls, don’t you?

Dear Father, thank you for the wonderful gifts that you give us each day. Help us to take the time to appreciate and care for those things – always mindful that we will not take more than we need. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.