This month’s topic for the Sustainable Finances – Sustainable Life group is consumerism and today I saw the perfect example of how consumerism warps culture.

This mother’s day morning I read an article in the Christian Science Monitor about the most common gifts for mom: cards, flowers, meals, clothing, jewelry, books, gadgets …. At one time or another, I’ve bought my mom all of these things. Mother’s day is big business, amounting to $20 billion in sales.

But the article says that what moms report they really want is this:

• Time alone if they had kids a home,
• Time with kids if their kids had grown.

When I read it, I know that’s the truth. That’s certainly what I want and wanted. Funny isn’t it – $20 billion when all we really want is time and presence.