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We were very fortunate when we moved to have many friends and family present to help us. At one point, I counted 22 people helping us settle into our new place. As box after box was loaded into the van, it really struck me.... Wow, we have a lot of stuff. It was incredible. When you see it all laid out before you, I think any reasonable person would ask, "Do I need all this? How much do we need to live?" I am a fairly neat person, and am not by nature a pack-rat, but I had to evaluate, where did all this stuff come from? Why did I have it? Let me preface this by stating that I am not talking about the normal paperwork that has to move with a family, nor am I refering to the mounds of books that accompany home schooling families, I am even omitting the loads of toys my children possess. I mean basically that my family had too many housewares, decorations, clothes, dishes..... we had it all in abundance. I think the answer is two-fold: Number one, my family had a large house, and I think in an odd way, I felt obligated to fill it up. We had 17 kitchen cupboards, all of them full (this does not include a pantry for food). We had a seperate closet for the vaccum cleaner and cleaning supplies, a seperate closet for medicine and linens, and yet another closet just for blankets and sleeping bags. Sounds like a dream, doesn't it? I thought so before I lived it, and became a slave to all my stuff. The second reason was that I thought I was being frugal saving all that stuff. I did not want to get rid of that extra set of measuring cups because I might need them someday.... What if they got lost, or the kids took them to the sandbox? What if I need those scraps of material, or every stitch of clothing my children have ever worn? What If I forget what thier artwork looked like when they were four years old? I found myself becoming enslaved to all this junk. I thought it was frugal, now, I think it was a little foolish. I also am not so blind as to think there might be one other cause to me saving all this stuff... I was trusting my stuff, feeling secure because I had a reserve. I was storing up my treasure where moth and rot could destroy. I was not trusting God. That was a real revelation to me. All the material possessions were not security, they were enslaving. Now that I have accepted this, it is easier to get rid of stuff. Not that I don't still have lots of boxes to go through, but I can let those things go and trust in the Lord. If he promises to look after the lillies and the sparrows, he will not abandon me. If I give something away with a cheerful heart, and need it later, I know the Lord will supply all my needs. Wow, now I am inspired, I'd better go unpack more boxes. |
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