Consume or Create?

 Do We Consume or Create? 

Have you ever seen a Wal-Mart that looked like this one? I drove into the parking lot along the Mississippi Gulf Coast months after Hurricane Katrina. Everything was gone.  I will never forget the feeling of sheer emptiness.  I am talking about more than just its goods--but the heart of Wal-Mart had been gutted, was utterly gone, now just the empty shell.  Then it struck me.  Even when it was in perfect working order, isn't the store essential "empty" of spiritual goods?  And what if we centered our lives in the physical reality of things, stuff to live with--and somehow forgot what and who we live for? 

The difference is in the question?  Do we consume or create?  Or, do we understand that we should consume in order to create?  That's the connection!  Consume to Create! 

Now let's flip the story. The fact is that Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot and a number of big warehouse stores sold many items at cost along the Gulf Coast during the rebuilding effort.  These stores were on the front line to make the whole project work.  People who had homes washed away were encouraged by the creativity and generosity of a larger community.  I think the real message I heard down there was this--"Thank God you did not forget us!" 

Thank God that the rest of us were spared Katrina.  But do we grasp the lesson of "consume to create?"  Do we use things that we consume to create community that reaches out and embraces?  I like the plan of collecting a bag of groceries each month or quarter to drop off at the food bank. Or, pet supplies for the animal shelter?  Try giving a unity of blood. The consumption of our lives leads directly to the blood which cannot be manufactured, but is a gift from consumption in our lives.