Tip of My Iceberg

Ikea is known worldwide for its modern furniture, low prices, an inviting shopping experience, and impossible instructions for putting said furniture together.

Swedish words are used for all the products sold there. For monolingual me, the words are unpronounceable and don’t really mean anything to me. This also is logical that instructions are in pictograph form, for all those places and people around the world who don’t speak Swedish.

Those instructions, however, are meant to disrupt my calm and cause frustration in assembling. I’ve even had some wonderful Gen Z’s attempt to follow them only to find they’re as discombobulated as I am.

The experience, though, is quite entertaining. Those little pre-decorated rooms with all the accoutrements added give a visual for how an apartment can look.

We did come across a small child’s room, with a toddler bed that two-year-old Kolly owned immediately. “My bed,” was her comment, and she hopped in to prove her point.

It did look good on her. Or her in it.

Nolan, a year older, grinned ear to ear and hopped in to prove he could fit just as easily. “I want this bed, too.”

Everywhere you turn in Ikea, there are corners and cubby holes outfitted to entice shoppers to consider buying a group of items that look good together rather than just one trinket.

The idea is that people will believe they need it.

We all experience those moments when we feel we “need” what we don’t have. When the urge to purchase is greater than the wisdom of choosing not to spend what you can’t afford. What we want can often fog our thinking, especially if there are others around us encouraging us to get whatever it is in question.

Needs and desires were at the very core of the challenge in the beginning of time. When God created people, He made them in His image so they would enjoy Him as He fully enjoyed them. He gave them freedom to make choices with very few restrictions. The one thing He asked them not to do was to eat from the tree in the middle of the Garden.

The serpent was the enemy of people then and now. He wanted more than anything to destroy the good God had made, so he tempted Eve. He asked her a leading question: Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?

She quickly responded that of course they could eat of any tree, just not the one in the middle of the garden. She knew the consequences would be tough–possible death, even though nobody knew what death was.

“‘You won’t die!’ the serpent replied to the woman. ‘God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.’ The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.” Genesis 3:4-6

She wanted wisdom. She wanted to be like God, which is the core of many of the problems in the world–we want to rule and be in charge. Be like God.

The cost was severe. The first thing that happened was they felt shame and guilt. When God confronted them, they blame shifted, the man saying it was the woman’s fault, the woman blaming the serpent. Death happened quickly, for God killed several of the animals He’d created in beauty to clothe the people to help alleviate their shame. They were then evicted from the Garden, never able to return.

Our wants often aren’t in our best interests; we can easily get them confused with what we really need. Kolly and Nolan saw what attracted them and immediately wanted it. Just like Eve in the garden wanted what looked good to her. In the moment.

A bed wasn’t in the cards for the two kids, but once we left Ikea, they’d forgotten all about it.

Eve made a choice based on a lie that had severe consequences for her and all people since then. What she wanted ended up costing her and others dearly. There was no win.

How do you evaluate your wants? Do they really work for you?