No More Storing Up the "Stuff"

Originally posted by Brenda on Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:25:00 GMT on Pawn to King and is filed under True Stories

Our delightful old girl is a mere 142 years old, but is only officially registered as 139, as that is the earliest tax registry that they can actually find on her in the archives. She is a designated “century home” and wears her plaque on the front wall of the house proudly. She has a rich, local history, and if her walls could speak they would have many stories to share. And, like all good women, every once in a while she needs a makeover to help perk her up and give her a fresh perspective.

Since life takes us on many paths, and a household of people can evolve in many directions, it means seasonally discarding old ways and old things. So our interior is now undergoing a quick cosmetic redo. And, like the shoemaker, who works on everyone else’s shoes but his own children’s, mine is always the last to get done.

It last had a dramatic freshening up, in its overall interior appearance when we moved in 25 years ago. Our tastes have changed since, and time and everyday wear has left its’ evidence. In other words, I am way too busy, way too sentimental, and have way too much “stuff”.

Okay, let’s re-phrase it and say it this way, “My name is Brenda... and I am a packrat.” Or, at least I was. I have finally outgrown the need to hang onto everything, and to attach a memory to it.

I no longer have a desire to store up stuff that I have to be continually maintaining, especially when I have long outgrown it, or don’t need it. Nor, do I want to have to worry about it - speaking not only in the physical, but also in the spiritual sense of things.

A while ago, I shared with a group that I was speaking to, this oh-so-true statement. “We spend the first 40 years of our lives accumulating things, and the next 40 trying to get rid of it....and rarely do the kids even want it when you leave it to them, anyway!” I am not sure who originated the quote, but it is quite likely that there was a packrat in their home!

It was the small flood in the basement, this past Spring, that spurred me to get rid of the excess “stuff” in the house. There I was, scrambling to move boxes over to one side in the studio, knowing that I had not looked at some of it for years, nor had I even missed it.

So, now I am decluttering ... and in more ways than one.

Confirmation has come, many times over, that God is now moving us over to one side, like the boxes in the basement studio. As individuals, as a family, and as a church body, He is sorting through our contents, and decluttering what we have long forgotten and buried away, in order to ready us for the physical move that is coming in the near future.

All I can say, is that one way or another, I am not taking all this “stuff” with me! I want to go with the least amount of “stuff” that I can possibly move, and I am not going to ‘clean house’ at the last minute. I want to deal with it all now, and enjoy my life without carrying the extra baggage on my shoulders!

I want His will and His way, and He reminds us that His way is not about storing and carrying the material things in our lives. Matthew 6:20-21 says, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Like my house, I was way overdue for my own interior makeover. So I came back from my last trip to the states and dealt with those things that were robbing time, energy and space in my life. Prolonging the inevitable tasks proved to be a weighty issue that was never necessary in the first place – even though I can appreciate the lessons learned in the interim. And like I mentioned earlier, it took no time at all and almost all those ‘looming’ problems were solved on the spot.

Isn’t it interesting that when you study procrastination, it is often determined that the actual task itself never took any time to accomplish in comparison to the time that it was struggled with, the nightmares it caused, the relationships it destroyed, or the time it stole away?

In undergoing this interior overhaul, the things from the past that I have procrastinated on, (hoping that someone else would deal with it, or it would just go away), have finally come to the place where they have to be dealt with or tossed aside permanently. No more hanging onto the extra weight on my shoulders, as a result of not dealing with the tasks! The excess baggage is taking up way too much valuable space – in my home and in my heart!

Why do we store all this “stuff” anyway? Why do we postpone what we could have handled within the moment? Why do we focus on what we see only before our eyes, and not beyond what the eyes can see?

The bottom line is that I no longer want to be a packrat. I want things to be simple, uncluttered and spacious in my home - and to still be the authenticity of our family and where we are right now, at this point in our lives. Likewise, I want an uncluttered interior space in my heart, my head, my soul, and my spirit, so that I can reflect the authenticity of Christ and who He is in any given moment.

There is no room for excess baggage in these houses! So, it's out with old and in with the new.

No more storing up the “stuff”.