As I woke earlier this morning, I was thinking about waste for some strange reason. What we use up and toss is one thing, but what gets created for more prolonged use and finally cycles out because it’s out of date? Well, that’s another thing.
Planned Obsolescence
That’s the phrase that popped into mind—not just the idea that a product no longer fits the times but that the plan is to keep replacing what we use with the latest and greatest whiz-bang product.
I have an alarm clock that is easily 25 years old, and it replaced a worn-out one that was 25 years old. My world no longer uses an alarm clock, but it is still on the side table, ready to wake me up at a moment’s notice.
My truck is 21 years old, and without all the electronics of the newer vehicles, I suspect it could reach a million miles. That’s about 600,000 miles north of where it stands right now. I may wear out before it does!
I have shirts hanging in my closet that I still use, which I bought in Alaska last century. My first circular saw bit the dust a few years ago, and I hated spending money on a new one—it was so much a cheaper product than that solid Craftsman. I still own tools I received as a Christmas present when I was 15, and my first shotgun is still in the gun cabinet!
I still have the coins I started collecting when I was 6-years old!
It’s not that I don’t like to buy new computers. My computers are growing out of date, and their internal electronics are wearing out, so I buy or build a new one.
I watched a demolition earlier this year, and a machine was crumpling all that ancient lumber. What a waste! We cut down a tree, and the little branches became a yard fire to enjoy. With a new fireplace in the house, hopefully, the large ones will dry out so we can keep the house warm. I found something to keep the barn warm and my dog’s house simultaneously toasty. It can use scrap lumber and small tree branches. It may cost $84…but it has a cooking surface to keep a pot of coffee warm simultaneously!
What never grows old? What never gets tossed to the side?
My love for my bride. It’s fresh every day, though we are aging, and it feels like it’s happening rapidly. The family we have produced, though at times seems tense, is still our family that we love dearly.
My walk with God feels as old as I do, although He’s always here. Patiently waiting.
This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
(Lamentations 3:21-23 NKJV)
Walking into God’s house is necessary, true, but it also produces that endorphin release of “…it don’t get better than this!” There is no Planned Obsolescence here!
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