Amy Scott's Thoughts

I’ve been battling myself and my need for things to always look nice and new. I have a few items in my house that have been stained. They are clean and still in good working condition. They just don’t look fresh out of the package. It started a while ago when I really wanted new bedding for our guest room. After 3+ years, the pillowcases have been stained by make-up and the sun has slightly faded the comforter. The floor mat for the shower in our guest bathroom now has a stain on it. I don’t have a spare set of sheets for my king bed. Things like this bug me.  My OCD has a really hard time because stained equals dirty in my mind. These items are not dirty. I have washed them. They are just not in their original condition.  I thought back to when I read the book Seven by Jen Hatmaker and my experiences with the 5/7 Fasts in early spring. I remember how my excess and consumerism really hit like a brick in the face. I don’t want to go back to the way I once was. So I have decided I will not replace these items. At least not now… I understand that I will need to in the future, but right now I will not give them priority. Why? Because it’s vanity! I just want nice, new things. I don’t need them. I have reversed the order I place my pillows on the guest bed. Now the stained pillows can’t be seen. The bathroom floor mat is used twice a week by Jeremy and randomly by house guests. It lives tucked behind the shower curtain – not in plain sight. Why replace something that isn’t often seen or used? My natural reaction to automatically replace things I don’t like… but really everything will get old and get stains. New bedding and new floor mats will only be new for so long. Today I am making up my mind to be content with what I have. Stains and all.