Realization struck my husband and me following the sale of my mother’s home of how much stuff required disposal. We concluded a need for selling our own home to downsize. The maintenance on our six-bedroom corner lot home overwhelmed us.
Thirty-nine years of accumulation of material goods appeared a mountainous burden to subdue. Our chosen condo could not hold a fraction of our current home’s contents.
My contribution to the problem centered on my sentimentality and pack-rattish nature. Although my husband’s organizational skills made him neater, he had his own valued collections. A cemetery of outdated computers filled his closet floor, as well as World War II DVD’s and books gathering dust on shelves.
However, his book collection paled in comparison to mine. In my bedroom two bursting bookshelves resided, not including another in the living room and cookbooks in the kitchen.
We started a campaign of ruthless stripping of unnecessary items. My Tupperware kingdom became a target, especially the elusive leftover dishes without lids and vice versa. How many years had I forgotten the items in the dark recesses of the lower cabinet? Not allowing myself the excuse for “Maybe I could use that for. . .” it had to go!
I got into a rhythm, amazed at how freeing the reduction of junk could be. No more hoarding for me! Jane the Ripper took over and the donation boxes and garbage bags multiplied.
I recognized just how stilted my existence had grown as each room underwent transformation. Look at what I could live without, and furthermore, what I could share. With each new excess extraction, a feeling of peace and contentment arose. Less stuff, less maintenance, less being anchored down to the world. More faith in God’s providence, more trust in His care. Could this be the “abundant living” Christ spoke about? It was, after all, a relationship with Him, and not with things. Our downsize proved an upgrade for us.
Dianna
Sharing the Fruit of Maturity
