Shopping

        "What did you buy today? Well, perhaps you didn't buy anything, but on most days, there is a trip to the store to buy. It is part of life and the economy. We work to be paid to buy what we need and then some extras. There is such an uneven scale of those who have the means to buy what they need without thought and those who must be aware of every penny spent, and there are those who go without.

        Shopping is an interesting experience in our lives that we take for granted. We must have food, shelter, transportation, clothes, the basics, but we spend more and more. There is a desire to have beauty around us as well as comfort. We get the latest that has been created for our pleasure and then find that it is quickly outdated. We treasure the things we have bought that have an emotional meaning to them. Perhaps they represent a union or an anniversary or a special visit, or a birth. There are so many reasons for those things that have sentimental attachment.

        Shopping causes us to discriminate, to choose, to balance the quality of that which we buy. Many times the things we buy we outgrow - not because we are of a different age, but because we are no longer the person we were when the object was bought. Interests change and with it our buying patterns change. It is easy to get caught up in the groping, the search for more and more. How much do we actually need? There is no definite answer to that, for each person needs space to grow with thought, with thinking, with practice in decision making. There is nothing 'wrong' with the pleasure of beautiful objects and comfort technology built into many machines. Still, when was the last time that there was shopping for the Spirit? What does the Spirit need? What does your Spirit need? Is it a special object, or is it something intangible? Shopping with the mind becomes a bit more complicated than shopping with money. The mind is so consciously oriented toward that which can be seen that it seldom gets a chance to speak, to give thoughts to the individual on what the Spirit needs. Sometimes we look too hard. We keep looking for that special gift, the 'perfect' one, the best one. Too often the small gift is oerlooked and a simple act of kindness is not considered. Too often the gift of Self is overlooked. When you are shopping, look within yourself and see if there is a gift there that can be shared with another."