Have you ever just had to have something,and when you got it you wondered what made you think you HAD to have it??
Here's a story I want to dedicate to all the women I met at my Christmas events this week in New Hampshire and Colorado:
Frantically searching for the doll her daughter had to have, my friend Janet drove all over town looking for Generation Girl Barbie. She remembered how ridiculous she’d thought it was to watch the Tickle-Me Elmo craze and couldn’t believe how desperately she now wanted to find this one-of-a-kind doll. Finally, she tracked down Generation Girl days before Christmas. Janet couldn’t wait to see her daughter Ali’s excitement when she opened the box and played with her new friend for days on end.Okay, so we're probably all too old for Barbies but don't we all have our crazy "have to have it" moments? So, what are some things you needed to have, or thought you had to have - got 'em and still wanted more. You know what I mean. Let's get real girlfriends - will they ever be enough?
A week into the new year, Janet was cleaning house when she stumbled over Ali’s Barbies. Funny how they all look alike wearing no clothes! Generation Girl had ended up with the rest of her glamorous friends in a loss-of-identity crisis. Janet laughed out loud when she realized her efforts to accumulate the perfect collection had brought her nothing but a bucket of naked Barbies!
Please post your thoughts in my comments area (you can be anonymous) and I will do a drawing from my "authentic friends comments club" for a copy of the message I shared this week about coming to a point in my life where Jesus finally became my "enough" along with a Starbuck's gift card - my favorite Christmas treat! I'll send someone a CD to keep and one to give away! And then you can check off one thing on your Christmas gift list :-).
Please note: I decided to extend this drawing through Monday since I am SO enjoying your comments. Also, I just finished my event in Colorado so I want to leave time for them to join in too!! Be sure to come back Tuesday, December 4th to see if you are the winner.
24 Comments:
Renee--
We all have our "Buckets of Barbies" or in our case, "A Bathtub of Barbies", and yes, they are all naked!
It is amazing to me how our greatest moments arise from relationships (God and other people) rather than from things.
Getting away is such a great way God reminds us that our "Buckets of Barbies" do not define us. The challenge is to remember that during the daily routine. OUCH!
When we return from our get-away (whether a vacation or a devotion time) we are often able to see those buckets as they truly are.
With love from your newest groupie from the cruise,
Caroline Ward
ward9776@bellsouth.net
p.s.
Thanks for posting the picture of us from the cruise! What an awesome time that was! Also, I love your Christmas poem.
Renee,
I enjoyed your talk at Bethany Church on Tuesday night. It was such a great reminder to slow down and enjoy the Giver. Our children do not need the latest greatest gadget of the holiday season. They need us-just as we need the Lord. So many times I feel like the woman at the well. I think we all have our own baggage of regrets and hurts that need to be cast aside, The Lord wants us to lay them at His feet but it is so often people who keep giving our baggage back to us and that do not let us move on.
Thanks so much for your willingness to speak with truth, honesty, and humor to a roomful of ladies on Tuesday night. Your message was just what my wounded heart needed to hear. Immanuel wants me to draw near to Him and accepts me just as I am, even when people don't. Thank you.
Renee, thank you so much for sharing from your heart at Bethany last night. I could so relate to hiding away in your closet being the safest place for you to be for your family's sake. Again, thank you!
Jessie Mills
randjmills@juno.com
That is too funny. And too true. :O) Great illustration though, very good.
lisa422 at gmail dot com
Okay, so I'm guilty. The one thing that will trip me up most on the "gotta have it meter" is anything having to do with scrapbooking! And, what beats all is that these days I don't even have time to scrapbook, so the stuff just accumulates in a drawer for that "one-day-soon!"
Cute illustration Renee. I can't think of anything specific of something I had to have. For me though it probably would be a new book that I had to have, hoping it would give me new insights. Sometimes they do help, but ultimately God is the source I need to look to for everything.
Hi Renee, I just found your blog today through my daily devotion from Proverbs 31 ministries. I can so relate to the "gotta have it" idea. I have been through periods of my life, especially for my children's sake, that I just HAVE to have a certain thing--barbies, computer games, etc. My weakness is books. I just LOVE books and will buy one in a minute if I think I might read it. The thing is I have so many books that have been flipped through and half read still on my shelves yet I continue...The Lord and I have worked hard on my impulsivity but there are always books that just call my name!
The pursuit of the perfect gift is an attempt to show our children how much we love them. As parents, especially mothers, we are driven to show our children that we love them, that they are special, to give them good gifts, and things they desire. Reminds me of the verse in Matthew 7:11 where Jesus says, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! What are we doing with the gifts God gives us? Are they, too, lost in a heap of naked barbies?
My bucket is full of kitchen appliances! The juicer I just had to have to be healthier. the pasta machine because that would be so much fun to use, and the list goes on! I would love to hear your talk!
Be blessed!
it seems we will search the ends of the earth for our children. we love them so much and want them to be happy and content. what we tend to forget sometimes is we play into the part of providing earthly treasures to provide that contentment. i'm one of the worst. i have four beautiful children and would be happy to go without so they can have new things.
i realize after reading your post, that i too, have much discontenment (sp) most recently my husband agreed to buy me a bigger house. well, one year later we still have our small house.........the market has crashed and has caused chaos :( moral of the story, bigger isn't alway better.
thank u for you insight :)
blessings,
missy
For a while after my parents died, I tried to recreate some of the wonder of my childhood by buying (on Ebay) special books I remembered as a kid and certain toys. I was half crazed in search of Miss Suzy and Timmy Mouse, two beloved books. Once I got them, after many failed attempts in the auction process, they weren't as wonderful as I had remembered. The real richness was the feeling of that time, the love of my parents, not the book itself. Those are the real treasures, not the stuff. Make memories and leave a legacy of love, is what I feel the Lord telling me to do at Chirstmas time and everyday.
Kris Krow
kriskrow@gmail.com
Hi Renee!
In gards to my devotional today - DISPLAY! I completely believe and say AMEN, well done servant!
Hello Renee - nice to meet you! I just ran across your blog today when I started out at Crosscards.com, signed up for devotions, read one & found my way here! And of all days, I started with your "A Bucket of Barbies". I have been busy buying things and accumulating things from my parents' house as well as both sets of grandparents. My house is now so cluttered that I just hate waking up to it. This has been going on just in recent years, ever since my teenage son died (suicide) 6 years ago. It was the beginning of a tragic year for me, losing my youngest brother to suicide as well, and then my father to cancer. Recently it struck me that I've been accumulating "things" in order to try to fill the space, the void I've felt in my life from all these losses. I've also realized that God is the only answer, the only one who can actually fill that void. And all the things I've accumulated during this time have no real meaning in my life - they are my bucketful of Barbies. I have found no joy in them (which I suppose is why I kept going back, trying to locate that joy), finally figuring out that my only joy comes from the Lord.
Thanks for helping me to see the picture a little more clearly. I was blessed reading your blog!
Leslie
Help what a wonderful poem, I am trying to copy and paste so I can print and frame it. Can you help me, I didn't want to retype it word for word. I will be glad to give credit ot the author.
Wow, thank you so much to all of you who have shared your hearts and your own bucket of Naked Barbie stories. Your open hearts have blessed MINE!!!!!!!!! Makes me want to send every one of you my Christmas message where I share my story. You would hear how much we are alike!!
Please keep sharing girls, it encourages us all to know we aren't alone in this search for something that will satisfy.
Copying the Christmas Prayer/Poem
I think you can highlight the whole thing, press "ctrl C" at the same time and it copies and then go to an opened Word Document and paste it. Or email me at rmswope@earthlink.net and I will send it to you in a MSWord document.
Blessings, Renee
I am a single mother of two wonderful teenage boys, and am currently finishing up my nursing degree this May. I have been at times in places where I just thought I had to have this or that only to find I really could do without it...Not until my almost 4 years of school and a very tight budget did I truly feel the impact of getting something I thought I had to have..at first I could pout about not really having the money to spend on it and not get it (which is the wise thing to do...excluding the pouting..) then something stressful happens and I would try to make myself feel better by buying something..whether it be eating out or splurging and going to the movies when I knew I did not have the money...the impact of that impulse would come when the rent or utilities was due...it has been through these hard times that God has steadily been calling me closer to him so that when I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders he reminds me that he has it and I can run to him and take all I need from him and that is truly the only thing I need...now I must put into practice the habit of running to my father for everything...and in that my cup (bucket,bathtub) will run over...
Renee--
It is amazing as I read the other comments how similar we can be! I am a book-a-holic and have to have every new Dekker, Henderson, Rivers, etc that comes out. I do read them and put housekeeping on the back burner. Sometimes I feel as if I am living a different life when I read, the life of the heroine, and her life is usually so much more exciting. I need to focus on what God wants for my life and live it for him.
I also have a ton of scrapbook "stuff" which a friend got me into and which I wish I could get out of. Thanks for all your thoughts.
Josie Lytle
lytlere@gpcom.net
I always want, gotta have another pair of shoes. Whenever I go to the mall I have to go into Burlington (they always have a great shoe collection)just to look at them. But I have to confess I don't always leave empty handed.
Tammy Rude
tammyrude@stny.rr.com
Renee -
What a beautiful website! I ran across it from Crosswalk Daily Devotionals. I love the "display"!!
I hear what you are saying here! I have been cleaning out toys of my three kiddos to make room for the new that will come this season. I am finding that I am giving away the toys that I sought after last year that was that "perfect gift".
To Cariokie,
I am a book junkie also. I can identify. I have a huge bookcase full of christian books and still collecting. Trying to get my husband to read one of them with me is another story.
Renee
Greetings from now snowy New England. Thank you for ministering to our hearts and helping me focus on his presence this advent. My two special guests were theyoung daughters of my friend who dies this year. You made them laugh and touched their sad hearts. Thank you for your ministry and great web site. Carolynn
Renee...
I came across your blog via Proverbs 31 Devotions Ministry. What a fabulous way for women to connect!
In my own personal walk, I'd have to say that I have really struggled with searching for the approval from others. I'm 35 and a mother of 4 daughters and yet I still find myself desperately wanting acceptance and approval from those around me. The Lord has brought out the hidden areas in my heart where I have searched for man's approval. Maybe not as obvious as it once was in my 20's, but the root is still there. No matter how much I fill up my bucket, there must be a hole in the bottom 'cause it always needs more!
The Lord gently reminds me that He alone is my only source! I know that other women can relate!
Thanks for your wonderful ministry!
It is good to know that Jesus is all we need, but how hard it is to understand it!
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