Although we start and end naked, owning nothing—from the first ‘binkie’ or ‘blankie’ in the crib, to the last lavender sweater-set in the casket—management and use of ‘stuff’ touches every moment of our lives. Having things is great. . . except when it’s not.

Know the feeling? It’s more noticeable during times of celebration—you got the raise, surprised the kids with tickets to Disneyland or finished your dream home—only to wonder why you can’t feel the joy or the peace-of-mind you expected.

I’ve been there too; it’s depressing. What makes it seem worse is the risk of confessing these feelings to someone else; to them you might come off as an ungrateful jerk which can lead to more shame and isolation. So where do we go?

Besides the growing popularity of pill-popping, the world offers daily antidotes to these feelings in the form of new ‘image management’ trends and gurus to follow. We want to feel in-control, prepared, ready for anything and surprised by nothing.

I tried the trendy systems and philosophies to deal with my stuff and stop my anxious thoughts, fears, depression and sadness. I purchased organizers to feel organized, beauty-cream to feel beautiful, comfort-food to feel comforted and ridiculous abstract glass sculptures to feel hip; but here’s the truth—they didn’t give me what I really wanted. Nothing, no thing, no system, no ‘joy’ philosophy, no goal reached or amount of money accumulated, can feed the hunger for meaning and peace.

Finding inner peace and joy through self-image is a delusion.

When I was 9 months pregnant with our second baby girl, my husband hired Merry Maids to clean and dust the whole house. I know what you’re thinking . . . it is an ADORABLE name (and yes, my husband is wonderful). Even after a thorough cleaning, they could not offer me the kind of ‘peace-of-mind’ I needed. Outside surface cleaning is wonderful, necessary and a part of life, but it lets us down when we depend on it to clean-out the yucky feelings inside, too.

True peace is not for purchase, we can only receive it as a gift. I know it seems scary out there right now. We don’t know what craziness we’ll hear on the news or what we should be prepared for next, but trying to stay in-control not only exhausts us, it’s impossible.

If we believe Jesus is our savior, then our buying, saving, giving and storing habits will differ from an un-believing world. What we meditate on makes a difference because we’re part of a different story. The peace we desperately desire for our lives doesn’t come from a particular product or a prepared pantry, it comes from a person.

What story teller do we trust?

Screen-writers and story-tellers create a world (think “A long long time ago, in a galaxy far away”), along with facts and rules of that world. The best ones—with the self control to stick to their own rules—create an atmosphere of trust, allowing the audience to just relax and enjoy themselves for the ride. This trust of the audience cannot be overrated if they’re going to follow the story-teller throughout the journey, and believe the story (even through the most difficult or far-fetched scenarios).

In the same way, God—a pretty remarkable storyteller—created a world with rules and a reality that helps us navigate within His story as active characters, not just audience members.

This ‘trusting the writer’ may seem simple enough, but remember, the Adversary is still hanging around pretending he’s co-writer. He can’t create anything, but scribbles over and perverts what’s true. When we believe the lies, we empower them.

Jesus (the author and perfecter) was sent to model what’s possible when humanity lives actively in the true story of God. We had no hope of getting it right, so He came to do it on our behalf.

At His return, He’ll cut the adversary out of the story (along with his scribbles). In the meantime, if we desire to order our lives to enjoy them more, the narrative of the Bible offers us a very practical and sustainable way of managing possessions and death. It’s the storyline where Jesus is the treasure worth everything, all the loose ends perfectly tie off and creation rejoices.

Don’t give Satan credits. Trust the real story is God’s redemption of man for His glory and our good!

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Three bigger-story truths that offer hope:

There is one Land-LORD and we are not it.

God owns it all; it came from Him and will go back to Him. He’s the land-LORD; we are the tenant. This home is on its final chapter(s) but He’s promised a new home for us, so don’t lose heart when you look around and see the destruction.

No one knows the day that Jesus is coming back as judge and King, but He asked us to be ready for Him. Like a landlord inspecting His property, He will sort out everything and everyone that is rightfully His. Let’s clean-house in preparation for Him.

If your image of this landlord includes a greasy-button-popped-shirt, gold chains, a halo of cigar smoke and keys, lazily twirled around fingers, you’ve got the wrong guy. This Lord so loved His property that He came to fix its problems with His own blood. The day is coming when everyone will see and acknowledge His scars and His Lordship.

Nothing is hidden from Him and whatever we’ve been planting in our lives will come up in a harvest; the question is, will it burn or be saved? If we, like the God-less store up food, clothing, money (or toilet paper) out of fear of the future, we sow in fear and will only reap more fear. On the other hand, if the Master has told us to store or save something (think Joseph in Egypt) and we heed His words, we sow in faith and will reap the reward—a blessing.

It seems that relationship to the land-LORD is the difference maker. Why not make it a habit of checking in with the Master first. . . He may have a fresh idea of what to do with His property and it will always yield something good.

Inspection-day is coming soon, but today we live in the time of His favor! He’s not only owner of all things, but makes Himself known as the generous Father who lavishes His children with good gifts. He’s gracious and compassionate, offering to relieve us of the heavy weight of trying to own our lives; He promises, when we willingly lose our lives in His story, we actually get to live them. He has promised to take care of us, do we trust Him?

It’s a Father-daughter relationship.

The other day at the park with my youngest daughter, I held her up while she reached for the monkey-bars. Nearing the last few bars she yelled out, “Mommy, look—I’m doing it, I’m doing it!!”. Of course I agreed and congratulated her on the effort, encouraging her to do it again with me. This is like life with God our Father. We are small children and can do nothing without Him, yet we yell out, “Look, I’m doing it!”. He cheers us on, praising us as we trust Him with new areas and take ‘reaches’ of faith. We forget He is the one doing the heavy-lifting, yet He’s perfectly secure in Himself and doesn’t scold us when we take the credit.

If we’ve accepted Jesus’ offer to stand in our place as the only human who truly “DID IT!”, He lived the real story line and conquered the lies for us so we could be adopted into His family. We are His daughters!

I imagine God was all smiles as He put our world together, anticipating the big reveal. Like planning a surprise party for a beloved child, He thought of every detail in advance.

Honored as the first man to come to his senses, Adam was breathing only moments before he was initiated into meaningful work of naming the animals.

A little later, Eve was presented to him and the two were given the task of flourishing together and ruling over the planet and the animals.

God has never taken back our mandate to rule, but when we have a hard time ruling our own appetites for coffee and episodes of The Office, it can seem daunting (or even cocky) to imagine ourselves as rulers over the planet. But this is who we are. We don’t do it on our own (of course), we get to do it with Him supporting our creative efforts, just like four-year-olds on the monkey-bars.

The fight of faith looks like choosing the storyline of belief over un-belief, reading and listening to God’s affirmations instead of the enemy’s accusations, and having our own experiences of His goodness as the fruit in our lives, not just the latest testimony we heard at church. As we reach-out in faith and see His faithfulness, we will dare to keep reaching, until finally we are squealing in delight, “Look daddy, I’m doing it!”

Time is relative.

One thing that fascinated and sobered me while studying archaeology, was how the grand plans of man come to nothing. All the cities that were once “the center of the world” are in ruins covered by dirt or sand, yet we impress ourselves with our enlightened progress.

Let’s get real, it’s always the ‘modern era with the most brilliant minds’ to the ones alive at the time. Why waste the tiny vapor of life we have either trying to hide or be hot-shots when God has invited us into the biggest story-of-all-time? Every second and every breath is from Him; if you haven’t already, why not ask what special plan He has set apart for you?

Our cities, shrines, monuments and documents will be burned up one day. Our storage, savings and treasures will be laid before Him. We are just another generation to come-and-go on His land, enjoying the warmth of His sun and the rain He sends. Jesus promised us a new home where He is the life-source, the light of the world. His story is our story, you may feel fear for the future but it’s just another scribbled lie.

He’s coming back soon to sort everything out and set it all right, then true LIFE will begin! This isn’t our home! Isn’t it wonderful news that we don’t belong to our blood-line, an empire, or to this world? We belong to a Father who loves and takes care of His own.

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No one knows the day Jesus Christ will appear in the East, but He’s coming back! Until we wear that lavender sweater set in the coffin, we get to live in the reality of His big story and share the good news with others!

When we think beyond ‘storage-space’ and see the the bigger story—how active the land-Lord, Jesus, is in His property—it brings hope, perspective and freedom into our everyday management of stuff. We find joy in the Prince of Peace and as we follow and partner with Him, we will watch in wonder as He makes all things new.