Coveting

I had an interesting exchange the other day. A woman that works for me was talking about how she has a neighbor with a nice house. It's bigger than her house and and it seems they are always fixing it up, improving it, making it better. She looks at her house and wants to do the same, there are things that need fixed, improvements she wants to do, but she doesn't have the money to do all of these things. She said she would look and look at this house and wish she could do even some of the things they were doing. Then she tells me, 'One day, I was doing this and realized, 'I'm coveting this house' Well, that's not something you hear every day. Coveting is mentioned in two of the ten commandments but it's not an everyday word. I knew she was very religious because she mentions something like that nearly every time she works for me. She knows I go to church a lot because we've talked about it. So, is God trying to tell me something about my life? Is she trying to tell me something about my life? I wouldn't be surprised if she was trying to hint something to me because I always have in the back of my mind of the stereotype of Christians trying to make you feel guilty and acting holier than thou. But she really doesn't know me that well so perhaps her admission was a really true one and she wanted to share what she felt. Obviously it's made me think about it a lot. I may not always covet the things people have, but maybe the money that it would take to buy those things. This society seems to be made up of coveting people, hence the phrase 'keeping up with the Joneses' Our consumerist society pushes us that way. "It's good for the economy if we buy, buy, buy" I'd like to think I try to be a little bit above that although I long for things sometimes. Maybe the point of this whole thing is that I appreciate someone making me think a little harder and longer about something. I know I don't always have to agree with them, but thinking more about things is really a good thing.