More stuff

I’m traveling and staying with friends or family. It’s great. I love people; I love my family.

We all have a lot of stuff.

I wrote about it before- about traveling light. And I’ve decided the fundamental problem is we are blind to our own stuff and we are bound to our own stuff.

When I cleaned out my house, people would come over occasionally to help me. And I could see it in their eyes, hear it in their voice, “Get rid of that thing. You don’t need to keep it. Why are you keeping all that?”  Few people came out and said anything, and if they did, I usually had a defense for the particular treasure, “That was his father’s tool.  My first baby came home from the hospital in that. It’s the children’s art work and I’ve already thrown out most of it.”

I’d love to have pictures of my treasures that eventually ended up in the trash can. But it wasn’t a clever lesson to blog about then, it was a severely painful act. I sorted and I gave away and I donated and in the end, I threw away.

And I don’t remember any of the things I “lost”.  I do remember the smiles of the recipients. I gave away one of my two Le Cruset pots. They weigh a ton and did I really need two? And I love the family I gave it to- we ate meals together from that green pot and it was a true joy to give it to them.  And they treasure it because they treasure me; we treasure each other.  A pot ties us together.

So I’d love to say I have exactly what I need at my new house and nothing else. But I still find pieces of my old life- too many Christmas ornaments, linens I can’t seem to part with (like I’m ever going to iron damask again!), art supplies I swear I’ll use, other people’s art that may or may not fit into this house. “Maybe my kids will want it some day. I paid a lot of money for it.  I may decide to throw a formal party and need an oversize damask tablecloth… in my casual log cabin.”  Deluded- deceived, misled, lied to.

"If I have stuff, I’ll be happy, I’ll be able to entertain, I’ll have something to pass on to my kids." Lies.

Instead we have stuff that we trip over,  stuff to dust (or to not dust and have guilt), stuff in drawers, closets and under beds.  Some of us rent storage units and pay money to make sure we have access to the stuff that won’t fit in our house and that we don’t use.

The reality is- stuff just makes us nuts, takes time to clean and sort and organize. People don’t want to be entertained; they’re looking for a cup of tea and a open heart. And the kids have stuff of their own.  Do you want your mother’s what-nots and thingies?  I know you paid good money for your treasures- she paid good money for hers. But most of us still end up with too much. 

Having a back seat the size of a twin bed is an invitation to "Take more stuff for the baby"

A girl's gotta have clothes. 

Books, book, books!
What did I think - that I could really read two dozen books this winter.?
And write my life story? 

I'm staying with a long time friend. We've known each other for years and years and had drifted apart, lost touch.  But I'm a fiend for keeping in touch and she ended up reading my blog and we are back speaking truth into each other's lives and loving it!

Juanita's wonderful coffee bar in her butler's pantry.
What a terrific hostess!

Juanita would be the first to say she has stuff. Lovely stuff but more than she wants. And this is the plate I found on her coffee area.

Is that it?  Do we need a goal, a focus, a reason to purge?  I got rid of stuff when I had to move and now I need to continue that process. Did God know His enslaved people needed to be refined before they could be the conquerers He foresaw? They needed to leave behind what they were attached to. The mentality of slavery, the bondage to a lifestyle, the stuff that held them back.   They bundled up everything they could carry and fled in the night.  There must have times when they bemoaned the loss of their bread ovens. We know they whined about missing the leeks and the onions of Egypt.  Their shoes didn't fall apart but they must have missed the extra tunics or blankets they had to leave. "Even if the pots we left behind were coarse and crude, they were ours."

The enslaved poor are as bound to their things as much as the rich.   It's our security, our identity, our comfort, our stuff.

So we can either wait for God to give us the divine shove to leave behind our stuff- and let me tell you, it can be painful, or we can chose for ourselves and look forward to Days of Freedom just as the Israelites could.  We're not motivated by what we should do.  Our hearts are stirred to do so we can accomplish a goal. See a change.  Be more fully who we are supposed to be. Without all the stuff.


Simplicity, order, space in our heads, quiet in our hearts to more fully engage with Life.

 Exodus- departure, leaving behind and going forward-

 receiving life from the Bread of Simplicity, 

chosing joy and a Time of Singing, 

rejoicing in our Days of Freedom.

 Unbound from our stuff.