“Mom, that’s coveting.” The words of 8-year-old Brian shocked me. How did he even know the word? Me? Covetous? I had simply said I would love to own the house in front of me. It has everything I have ever dreamed about … a perfect yard with just the right amount of flowers to highlight the manicured lawn … a gazebo to one side that looks like a perfect place to spend a warm, lazy afternoon.

I hadn’t said all this in front of my son, so why had Brian come up with his pronouncement? To dream of better, nicer things — is this coveting?

“Honey, coveting is a sin. Wanting something that someone else has. I just want a house like this one someday.”

“That’s just what Miss Molly said in Sunday school, Mom. If we want something someone else has or something we don’t need, we are telling God that what He’s given us isn’t good enough.”

“Brian, I think it’s more complicated than that. Let’s look it up when we get home.”

“OK, Mom.”

“Brian, it’s time for bed.” Where had the day gone?

“But, Mom, we never looked up about coveting.”

The phone rang. “That’s Daddy calling from Tucson. You answer it, and then go to bed. By the time I finish saying good night to him, you’ll be asleep. We’ll talk about coveting in the morning. I promise.”

“OK, Mom.”

Later in the quietness, I thought of what needed to be done the next day. Laundry … shopping … talking to Brian about coveting.

Oh, yes, coveting. This won’t take long. I took down the dictionary and flipped to the entry for covet.

The words want, envy, greedy and even idolatry jumped off the page. Looking up the word envy, I read, “a feeling of discontent.” A feeling of discontent. That hurt. How often had I longed for something, unsatisfied with what I already had, or beguiled by the new, improved model? I flipped to the word greed. “The excessive desire for getting or having ….”

Stopping to look around my house I could see my excessive desire for getting. My collection of teacups … there must be 45 or 50 of them. Do I need so many? I never use them. But they are so pretty. I envisioned all the beautiful cotton fabrics I use for making quilts. Did I need that much fabric? If I made all the quilts I could with the fabric, could I use it all? The word excessive seemed to populate our home. And not just my home. What about my friends? We all shop at the local warehouse store. Extra-large carts needing to be filled with electronics, food, toys for both adults and children. Excess beckoning us from every corner.

Enough!

This was uncomfortable. I found my Bible dictionary: covet — “the wish to have more.” Looking up the suggested verses, my heart sank, their meaning clear. Coveting is idolatry and leads me away from God.

Maybe it was sinful to want a better life, to want better things. But trusting God to provide for me? Being content with what He gave? Wasn’t He giving me things through the money I earned? Wasn’t it my decision as to how I spent my money? Was I in fact greedy, trusting in the uncertainty of riches, and worse, idolatrous?

I considered all we were blessed with as I headed for bed. I needed to spend time reading Scripture and praying. My nightly ritual found me in the book of Jonah. Now he was a man with sin issues. I took comfort in reading of someone else’s disobedience.

Suddenly a verse popped out at me, Jonah 2:8: “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” Remembering what I’d read about coveting, my heart dropped. Had I forfeited a life filled with God’s grace? Had covetousness kept me from sharing His grace with those around me? When I bought something, I enjoyed it for a time — until something new appeared. Had I ever been content?

“I’m sorry, Lord. Help me to see Your way and Your truth, not mine.”

At breakfast the next morning I looked into Brian’s eyes, so clear and free from doubt.

“Honey, I spent some time last night looking up the word coveting. You were right. What I said yesterday was coveting. I asked God to forgive me, and I hope you will forgive me too.”

“What do I need to forgive you for?”

“Well, God puts us in a family so we can demonstrate His love and learn to be like Him. I wasn’t showing you a good example of the way God wants you to be. I’m sorry.”

Brian’s hug cemented his, and God’s, forgiveness.

“That’s OK, Mom. Coveting was news to me too. Maybe we both needed to learn about it. I love you.”