Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land. – Isaiah 5:8

Today's Scripture Reading (March 10, 2023): Isaiah 5

American author Gina Greenlee argues, "Much of what we acquire in life isn't worth dragging to the next leg of our journey. Travel light. You will be better equipped to travel far." It is a journey that I have been on for the past few years. My children have moved out of the house, and I am trying to figure out what I want to keep and what I can remove from my life. And the decisions come in two ways. I have never been a fan of knickknacks; you know, those little things we place on our homes' shelves collecting dust. If it were up to me, these dust collectors would all be removed from my house. But part of my struggle is that I have received many of these curiosities as gifts from people about whom I care. And so, they are hard to throw away.

My other struggle is books. I love books; my home office and the one I have at the church are packed with these treasures. And while I know I have to downsize my library in the near future, only keeping books that have a distinct purpose in my life, the task of downsizing is proving hard.

The truth is that things should have a purpose in our lives. But possession for the sake of ownership can be very damaging to the community and to us. Which is the point that Isaiah is trying to make. Adding on houses is useless when you can only live in one place. Buying up land is good to a point, but soon we begin to possess more land than we could possibly farm. The limit might not be the same for everyone, but there is a limit. As a result, not only do the houses lie empty and the land choked with weeds, but we cheat the world of the very things it needs from the land; crops.

Isaiah adds that it will also contribute to our loneliness. When we buy houses and land, there is no longer room for others in our lives, and the community becomes thin. We were made for community, but more than that, especially in ancient times, neighbors also added to the protection of the land. One family could be defeated by those who wanted to cause harm. But several could protect each other. And that continues to be true.

Sometimes, I know the thought of living alone in the middle of nowhere can seem like a good thing to those addicted to our books. But we were not designed for that. We were created for community; we really do need each other. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 6