Treasures in . . .

My how time flies when you're...purging, packing, and giving things away. Only 11 days to go! I've discovered something over the past few weeks - whatever space I have, I fill it up. I have so much stuff I rarely use, but I hang on to it because... I have room for it. Why do I hang on to so much unnecessary stuff when all it does is weigh me down?

What were we thinking stockpiling all these computers? As if we'd ever use them again? Too bad we didn't pass them to someone who could have used them. Instead they grew old, too old, wasting away in our crawl space for years on end and cluttering up our lives in the process.

Some of you know I've been on a mission to purge our house for about the last three years. However, now that we are actually selling our house and moving into a space 1/10th the size we live in now, I'm looking at things in a much different light. Suddenly, it seems ridiculous (and costly) to have so many things we rarely use. Yes, I believe we will one day have a house again - so I'm not getting rid of everything - but I'm definitely going through things with a "when in doubt, throw it out" mentality.

It's making me think hard about buying and accumulating anything else. How many things have I purchased over the years that I simply do not need? It takes time to organize the stuff. More time to pack all the stuff. And money to pay to store the stuff. I'm really interested to see if I miss any of the stuff while we are living without it for 6-9 months. I'll let you know...

In the meantime, I'm repenting... Lord, forgive me for the ways I've accumulated such excess when others are in need. Forgive me for filling my house with things I do not need when others do. Forgive me for my greed and my gluttony for the things of this world. Thank you, Lord, for helping me to see the error of my ways and for your grace and mercy and forgiveness. Help me to store up treasures in heaven from this day forward. I want to live a simpler life...with less stuff.