A Season for Everything

I am by nature a keeper.  I think my grandmother and a host of other family and friends might be carrying the keeping gene as well. I am sentimental, love history, and enjoy the stories behind so many seasons, people, events, and memories of life.  However, sometimes “stuff” can take over your space.  Not only can it fill shelves, closets, and boxes, it can steal peace, and give you stress in its place.  I get so caught up in the history of some treasure that I forget how much my visual space needs should be a place of rest and restoration, not a place that gives me more to dust.

While I will likely never be a tiny home minimalist, I am in awe of those who are.  Having 4 children who are almost grown adds to my collection…

• Bedroom closets and dressers of clothes and shoes that didn’t make the cut to live with my children, but might be needed later
• Old bikes, balls and sporting equipment of games once played
• Pool floats, colorful noodles and beach mats for next season
• Furniture, and lamps “they might need” when they move into the next apartment or home
• Mystery boxes of “stuff” that they have decided didn’t fit in their current living space, but may want in the future
• Boxes of creations from childhood…. early efforts at writing… and all the tiny handprint arts and crafts that comes along with 4 children and sentimental mom.

I live in a home that is slowly becoming…. a storage unit.

Over the last few years, I have enjoyed the Marie Kondo method of tiding up and clearing out.  May my gently used things bless someone else because it no longer sparks joy for us.  During the Pandemic, I took on large tasks around my home to see what was filling my space.  Dragging out bags and boxes cleared clutter was tremendously uplifting to my spirit.   

When my children no longer consider my address as their permanent home address, I will invite them to go through and clear out of the garage items they wish to let go and those they wish to keep.  Then, I will call the donations truck.  Some friends have also begun the practice of giving things away when they purchase or receive something new. I am not quite there yet, but I am trying to make clearing out more of a daily routine this year. As I walk about my home, I am learning to carry things out to the box in the garage that is headed to donations and make a regular drop at my favorite charities. There is a similar box in my closet as I look at my closet and have nothing to wear.  (Holy Spirit stares at my closet full of clothes and says…. Really?)  If it doesn’t make the cut too many times, it is time to toss in the box.

Loss of someone we love can make our attachment to things even harder. As we lose family or close friends, it is especially difficult to let go of things that we have that belonged to them. It is not uncommon to find yourself surrounded by things that have no real value beyond the memories of the person you love. As I packed away items of our little 11 year old cat, Tinka who died on New Year’s Eve, it was tough to let go of some of the things that reminded us of her. But letting go of things isn’t letting go of your memories or your love for them.

As I read Ecclesiastes 3 reflect on the different seasons of life, I recognize the shifting seasons of my own life from a mom of older kids to a mom of young adults. Ecclesiastes 3:6 says there is “a time to keep and a time to throw away.”  As we let go of the most precious parts of our homes… our children and watch them launch in this world…  may we also learn to let go of the things that they leave behind that no longer serve a purpose for us in the homes. 

You don’t have to let go of everything. Just don’t let the evil one steal your joy dressing it up as treasure.  There is a time to keep…. and a time to throw away.  Be blessed!

Kelly