Why is it that I want all the tote bags? 

That’s a serious question. 

Show me a good tote bag and I instantly want it. All the colors. All the patterns. All the styles. It really doesn’t matter because if there is a tote bag to be bought, I’ve got the cash.

Next question. Exactly what am I going to tote around in these tote bags I so long to collect? 

I don’t know. My teacher supplies, I suppose. Even though I already have at least 3 really good teacher tote bags to cart all my teacher supplies from my house to the school and back home again, I need more. Yes, I definitely need more. I know because if I added fifty more tote bags to my collection and then you showed me another cute tote bag that I didn’t already own, I’d feel like I needed that one too. 

The simple truth is that will never be enough tote bags in this world to satisfy my soul.

Or coffee mugs. 

I need coffee mugs too.

How many coffee mugs does one person need? Okay, so let me clarify that question …  how many coffee mugs for two people because Jon drinks coffee too?

Would fourteen mugs be enough? Fourteen mugs would mean both Jon and I could theoretically drink coffee every single day of the week without ever once taking the time to wash up the used ones. Based soley on that fact alone, logically somewhere around fourteen coffee mugs should be plenty to have in my kitchen cabinets.

I can tell you two facts right now:

1. I currently have far more than fourteen coffee mugs in my cabinets.
2. Fourteen coffee mugs does not seem like nearly enough. I definitely want more than that..

I have this deep desire to buy every coffee mug out there, until my cupboards overflow and I’ve nowhere to put them. At which point, I’ll box a few up for Goodwill and immediately turn around to buy myself more mugs for drinking coffee because the next coffee mug might very well be my favorite one ever but I won’t know for sure until I have it sitting on my kitchen shelf.

I know this to be a true scenario because just this week, during the Great Louisiana Blizzard of 2025, I packed up a box of more than twenty coffee mugs for the thrift store, but there was still at least another twenty on the shelf.  For a few hours, I felt proud and rather righteous for my measly attempt at decluttering.

But now the coffee mug spot looks bare (even though I have twenty cups). And I have to wonder how long will it take me to fill up that space again with more coffee mugs?

And it’s not just tote bags and coffee mugs. We can’t forget the pens! 

How many pens do I need? 

As many as I can collect apparently because I cannot darken the door of an office supply store without buying at least one package of overpriced pens.

Felt tip. Gel ink. Clicker pens and capped pens. Colorful ink. Standard blue or black. Fat pens and thin pens. I need them all. Truly, there will never be enough pens to satisfy my needs for more. 

Perhaps my great love for pens is because I am a writer, though I generally just type my words so that theory falls flat.

Maybe the pen fascination comes from the fact that I am also a teacher. But exactly how many pens do I really need for grading papers? I mean, I do grade a lot of papers, but not so much that the ink runs out on a regularly basis. I bet I could easily make do on ten pens a school year and not come close to running out of ink. 

Trust me. I have a lot more than ten pens.

I have a pen cup by my chair in the living room. Two more pen cups on my desk at school. Another pen cup on my desk at home. And when I say “pen cup” what I really mean old coffee mug that I love and cannot bear to part with but I have other coffee mugs I love to drink coffee out of more so I now use it to stash away my pen collection.

Not only does my pen collection live in old coffee mugs, but I’ve got pens in my purse and pens in the console of my car and pens in the pockets of most of the jackets I own … and (of course,) lots and lots and lots of pens stashed in the bottom of every single tote bag in my possession. 

I cannot get enough pens or coffee mugs or tote bags. The more I have, the more I want. Because pens and coffee mugs and tote bags cannot fill me up any more than the books stuffed onto the shelves in my home or the clothes filling my closet or the apps cluttering my phone.

I wasn’t made for things. As a created person, I was made for my Creator … for a relationship with Him and the rest of His creation.

That’s why the most filling things in this life come from being connected to God through His creation. 

Petting a cat (or a dog), watching the birds flit around the feeders, sitting outside drinking a cup of coffee in the morning, planting seeds in a pot of soil,  … all of these are things that bring us joy and peace into the chaos of our lives. 

It’s why swimming or building a snowman or feeling the warm sun on our face leaves us feeling connected to the world where we live out our days. 

And it’s why when we spend time with people, we feel that longing for connection melt away. And time spent in weekly worship, daily prayers, and reading Scripture bring joy and fulfillment to the soul. 

It’s often said that the best things in life are free. 

The last time I checked, pens and coffee mugs and tote bags all cost money. Even if I had enough money to buy all the pens and coffee mugs and tote bags the world has to offer, it wouldn’t do me a bit of good. You see, even though I’ve already got enough of them, the odd fact is there will never be enough of any of those things to satisfy my soul. It will always leave me wanting more.

Instead, let me spend time in God’s great world with all that He made. Let me enjoy others and bask in the laughter and smiles and hugs. Let me remember to enjoy my daily bread – the bread of His good world that sustains my body and the bread of His good word that sustains my soul. 

And let me remember that there’s not one thing in this world that I need more of except for God. 

But Him … I can always use more of Him.

Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually!

1 Chronicles 16:11

Blessings,