Last night, our youth group’s high school minister, Chadd, gave a fantastic talk. It was a little bit about selfishness, a little bit about materialism, and a lot about being busy. He used a fantastic illustration by Rob Bell, which I paraphrase here.

Rob was at the beach with his kids. The kids were collecting fistfulls of small shells and shell fragments, visually stimulating, but completely worthless. Then, they saw, floating on the waves, a large star fish, a real prize. He son ran out into the waves to collect it, but came back without it. When Rob asked his son why he had not retrieved the treasure, he replied, “I couldn’t. My hands were full of shells.”

How many times do we miss out on opportunites to do amazing things, to serve God, to change the world, because we are clinging so tightly to the mundane “stuff” in our lives.

Let that one sink in.