Buyer's Remorse

After balancing my checkbook tonight, I've had to take a bag of items and put them in the back of my car. It contains a few things I purchased from a an outlet store a couple of weeks ago. It's in my car because I need to return them.

While I was in the process of walking around this kitchen store and picking up various "neat" items, the thought did cross my mind multiple times that "I just didn't need the stuff". I shoved that thought to the back of my brain because I wanted the stuff and I deserved the stuff.

I didn't buy anything too frivolous - just a couple of pans and a Santuko knife. At the time, I figured I just had to have that knife because I've wanted a better knife for a long time. I figure that better tools will make me a more consistent efficient cook. The problem was I didn't NEED them and I actually bought the items without taking a look at my checkbook and counting the cost. Now, a couple of weeks later, I've decided that the items I purchased really weren't necessary and that I'd rather have the money to spend on other things. Now I've got to find the time to drive 40 minutes back to the outlet store to return my purchases.

Why do we do this? You know, wasting money on things we want or desire only to realize later that we spent our precious resources on products that just aren't that important when compared to other things that are more crucial. I can't even count the number of times that I've experienced some level of buyer's remorse. The high from spending unwisely doesn't last long at all.

This little spending escapade reminds me of how I feel when I spend money on food that "hits the spot" so to speak but holds absolutely no lasting value or nutritional content. Why do I do that?...spend money (and precious calories) on something that gives me a moments pleasure?

I am reminded of the scripture from Isaiah that says...

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. - Isaiah 55.2 (KJV)

I love this version from The Message:

Why do you spend your money on junk food,your hard-earned cash on cotton candy? Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best, fill yourself with only the finest.

The fact is that in this day and time, the world is full of wasters - wasters of money, wasters of food, and wasters of time. We spend our resources and our years chasing after thrills, must-haves, and oh-I-want-its. Unfortunately, many folks end up near the end of their lives, only to realize that they have a giant case of buyer's remorse and the time limit for redeeming the years of bad choices has run out.

Life is too short to live looking back at regretful decisions. It's too short to mess up by making bad choices when there is a better path. We are not perfect beings and so we will have moments where we trip up. However, I don't want to live a life where I regularly trip over the same cracks.

Spending money I don't have doesn't bring joy.

Eating food with no nutritional value doesn't bring good health.

Wasting time and energy outside of my purpose and calling doesn't bring fulfillment.

Living to please anyone other than the Lord doesn't bring eternal significance.

I asked my paternal grandmother (who I fondly call Two Mama) what she would change if she could live her life over again. Her answer is etched in my mind forever. "Well, I didn't do things perfectly, but I did the best that knew to do at the time".

What else can we do but the best we know to do. My fault lies in choosing less than the best even when knowledge of the best choice exists. The result is always REMORSE.

So how do we avoid remorse. How do we avoid the feeling that we could have done better, avoided disaster, or steered clear of disappointment. The precious Word has an answer for that too:

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Isaiah 55.6 (KJV)

And again, The Message is a wonderful paraphrase:

Seek God while he's here to be found,
pray to him while he's close at hand.
Let the wicked abandon their way of life
and the evil their way of thinking.
Let them come back to God, who is merciful,
come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.

"I don't think the way you think.
The way you work isn't the way I work."
God's Decree.
"For as the sky soars high above earth,
so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
and the way I think is beyond the way you think.

Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
and don't go back until they've watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
not come back empty-handed.
They'll do the work I sent them to do,
they'll complete the assignment I gave them.

There is a simple way to avoid buyer's remorse. Follow God's instructions. His knowledge about life and it's twists and turns way surpasses ours. There are so many regretful decisions that we can avoid and pitfalls we can sidestep if we just stop to get instructions. God's Word truly is a light and a lamp that will guide our everystep if we will only use it.

His Word addresses everything, how we spend money, how we spend our time, and even how we should treat our bodies (NO OVEREATING).

I imagine a life where I'm free of that sinking feeling because I've made an avoidable decision. That life is possible if I following the directions I receive from Somebody that's already been there and back and is more than willing to be my Guide.

I imagine my life - a life lived without unnecessary pitfalls. I imagine a surrendered life - a life lived in humble submission to the direction of Another. I imagine my life - a life lived without buyer's remorse.