Think Before Clicking
I had to leave my yoga mat in Lithuania. It just didn’t fit into the suitcase. Back in the US, I wanted to resume core exercises ASAP, but the floor in my daughter’s apartment was hardwood. “You could use this runner we have in the kitchen,” she suggested.Well, yes. It was inconvenient and not as comfortable as a mat. It hurt my elbows to plank on this. It wasn’t as clean as I would like either. But, dang it, I didn’t want to just mindlessly buy something. I wanted to think about it.Because when I was preparing to move back home, I thought long and hard about what I learned in two years away from American culture. I didn’t miss the atmosphere of relentless advertising, and wanted to be more mindful about acquiring things.What’s wrong with acquiring things, you ask? Whole books have been written about this. For me, it can make me unhappy. I often feel after buying something as if I have given in to pressure. I lose respect for myself. Or I buy something that seems like a great idea at the point of purchase, but later the thing sits around unused and reminds me what a sucker I am. This was more than a practical or even an emotional question. It was theological. Romans 14:23 says that whatever is not from faith is sin. In the context, Paul is talking about food choices, but the principle could easily expand to include other choices. Now I was examining the default settings for my buying choices. God has always provided for me. However, could I claim that everything I had purchased up to that point had been by faith? Of course not. Who could make that boast? But perhaps it should be my goal: that everything I do should be by faith. If Paul can talk about a practical, everyday thing such as food choices as something a person can do “by faith” or not, why not look at every purchase this way?As I prayed and thought, I decided that I’d try this: if the purchase is something I need and should be procured new (food, undergarments, bedding, personal grooming supplies, etc), I would just buy it. For other things, I’d pray first and see if God provided some other way, or maybe I just didn’t need it.Still, I fell into the old pattern. I started looking online. Amazon listed a yoga mat at a reasonable price, but it wouldn’t arrive for two months. Same with Walmart. Okay, I thought, let me shop off the beaten path. I found a website that specialized in yoga equipment. But…. the shipping was prohibitive UNLESS I bought at least $50 worth of stuff. The mat was $20. Okay, I thought. I have used a balance ball in the past. That was another $20 or so. I started looking for something else I could put into my basket to get that free shipping. I found something and then went to check out. I saw that I was prepared to pay $50 for a mat, and for a ball and something else which I may or may not use. And, it would still take a week and a half to get here.This approach to shopping has trained me to buy more and spend more.It’s not a conspiracy. It probably makes economic sense to online retailers to offer free shipping on minimum orders, And it makes economic sense for Amazon to offer free shipping to its Prime members. This is capitalism. I can choose to buy from Amazon, from this other store, from a bricks- and-mortar store, or to buy nothing. I ditched this shopping cart and exhaled a long breath. I’m not spending this much money to get the one thing I want. I looked for it at Target next time I was there, and there were simply no yoga mats.This morning I used the runner and tucked a pillow under my elbows while doing planks. My core didn’t know the difference. Well, truthfully, it was a bit more difficult. Maybe that’s a good thing.