Lent Day 3: That's enough for me

The Western economic model is driven by envy and greed. Advertisers tell us, "It's never enough!" We make light of our obsession with stuff by calling our accumulation trips to the mall "shopping therapy."

We forget, in the rush and bustle of a society consumed by things, that love and meaning are not attached to material goods.

God calls us to a life with new values. He's our source for what we need. His hands give us provisions for each day.

On this third day of Lent, look around. Are you starving? Am I sleeping outdoors in the cold or brutal heat of the day? Are our children without clothing? Most of us admit, "Hardly the case!"

God, who sees the sparrow and numbers the hairs of our heads, watches over us. That's enough for me. How about you?

Ready to be grateful for today? Me too!

Read more:
*Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly." Psalm 5:3

*Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take." Proverbs 3:5–6 NLT

*You shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace. Isaiah 55:12 NEV

*Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Jeremiah 32:17 NIV

*Jesus said to his disciples, “When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “No, not a thing.” Luke 22:35 NEV

Moravian Prayer: We know it is your will that none of your creation should lack for anything, O giving God. Make of us your hands and feet, that it may be so throughout the world. Amen

Cured?

Almost there

It's the final day of the Apartment Therapy January Cure. I'm looking back on a month of riding twin rails: cleaning out used spaces and shedding things no longer used. In the middle of the tracks, I laid a month-long commitment to purchase nothing I don't eat or use up. The month shaped up as fun and worth the effort.

• Today someone came to buy our unused Robomower. I had hopes of a nicely cut lawn at the back when I bought it 10 years ago. My husband still weed-whacks the wild area bordering the forest two or three times a year. Goodbye mower! (and lawn idea)
• Someone picked up sewing supplies and asked for more. Their homeschool coop teaches students to sew. (Look, Mom! We're found a home for the stuff we'll clear from your sewing room!)
• A CL-er is coming for the K-NEX boxes our boys outgrew 2 decades ago.
• We donated bags of clothing, books, and unused household goods ... three times since New Year's Day.
• We Freecycled at least one item each day in January.
• Our adult kids claimed some family treasures we no longer use.
• I bundled up collectables ("Just the Right Shoe" and Hummels) for resale. The British teapots are next.

A focused being that knows its purpose

So, am I cured? Nope, but I feel like I've ripped off a bandage of storing things I'll never use. I am beginning to heal. Internally, I feel more space for considering new directions of work and play.

Lessons I've learned about tackling excess? How we can reevaluate our life and spaces?

1. Notice what you have. One minimalist challenged me to name every item in a room and say aloud what its purpose was. "No utility? No beauty? Not adding value to our lives? OUT!" I'm not quite there but I'm looking around. 
2. Be grateful for every opportunity represented in the stuff. Just don't feel obligated to be everything and do everything you thought you could or should when you brought it home!
3. Imagine the life you're called to and designed for. Go outside your room (office / house / garage, etc.), take some deep breaths, and maybe go for a walk. Dream about the life you'd ideally be living. Then walk back in your door as a "stranger." Ask, "What parts of my collected life reflects the life I want to live?"
4. Take out everything and refocus. Remove the contents of a box, a closet, a desktop, a room. Put back only things you really like or need. Trash, repurpose, or rehome the rest.



Focus, through a doorway
at Cambridge

5. Rejoice. With each decluttering accomplishment, enjoy the space, energy, and the time you've gained. (You'll need less energy and time for maintenance, cleaning, or rooting through piles of stuff.) Keep looking for ways to pare down. Follow through on giving away stuff ... without regrets. If one day you need that 10th extension cord, borrow one from your neighbor or run to the shop on the corner.

Quoted in Real Simple Magazine

This process works for life as well as spaces: notice with gratitude where you are. Pray for direction and focus.

Serve well. Many routines are imposed at work and home. Beyond that, schedule only things that align with your calling and strengthen your relationships.

Let the rest go. We know that you're not superhuman, but we'd love to see you less frazzled!

Read more:
*It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him. 1 Samuel 3:18

*And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Luke 12:25-2 

*Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. Romans 11:33-36 NIV

Moravian Prayer: Lord, you promised never to leave us nor forsake us. Forgive us when we become anxious about life’s issues. You know what is best for us; please strengthen our faith and trust in you. In Jesus’ name. Amen 

Treasures worth investing in

I could only be a minimalist under duress.

Reading "The Joy of Less" by Francine Jay, I'm struck with the weight of our stuff. We are taught from childhood to trade ourselves for items we don't need, whether for their use or beauty. Jay talks about "the freedom of living with just 'enough' to meet our needs."

We covet things, save to exchange our lives for them (time=money), and fill our homes with them. Then we have to clean and maintain them, push them around to make room among our other stuff, store them when we're weary of them, and finally dispose of them. (Or if we're unwilling to do that, our kids or executors are stuck with the chore.)

The first time I remember distinguishing between the beauty that enhances my life and a house full of "pretty things," I was listening to professional organizer Peter Walsh. He was trying to explain to a hoarder that precious items should have a place of honor. That every thing was not important or worth keeping. But in the blank expression and distress on the person's face, I saw the same initial incomprehension I was feeling. Wasn't all the stuff I had pleasing to me? Useful? Or at least pretty?

As a follower of Christ, I'm obligated to keep my heart free from the love of acquisition. I'm not permitted to tie myself greedily to things. Jay asks in her book, "If someone offered you a great job [/ministry] if you could move across the country in 3 days, how would you respond?"

Would you or I:

• leap at the opportunity, thank God, and pack a few boxes?
• spend sleepless nights and days packing and sorting ... and fretting?
• decline because there's too much stuff to consider moving?

I had to think about that. This month, God has brought one thing after another along to encourage and help keep me moving. Some evenings there is more on the floor than I started with. The heaps of things turned out of drawers and surfaces come and go.

Bathroom during cleanup
(I love to read in the tub; I hate to
store exercise clothing in the closet)

Bathroom after
(books put away; clothing
hung on hooks, ready to use)

I've barely started but the weight is lifting. This home took 35 years to fill. Four children have grown up here and their residue lurks in the basement along with other forgotten treasures and junk.

How would I think I can sort and free myself from the clutches of memorial waste in a month, baring a catastrophe? I can watch people lose everything in an instant via BBC and Japan News. On my monitor, people run from war and floods and earthquakes with only their clothing and a small sack of belongings. Why do we think that could never happen to us? That we could never live without our possessions?

In contrast to the things we've been trained to value, what does God tell us to fill our lives with? Truth, wisdom, discipline, good judgment, relationships. Those cannot be taken from us by feast or famine. These things will remain.

Back to work, then!

Read more:

*Get the truth and never sell it; also get wisdom, discipline, and good judgment. Proverbs 23:23

*God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength—who has resisted him, and succeeded? Job 9:4

*Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 NIV

*Who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? Romans 9:20

Moravian Prayer: Mighty God, thank you for being available for us; forgive us when we fall and come short of your glory. Father, we ask for a fresh anointing on souls today, that we may experience your Holy presence in our lives. Amen.

Go! Just go!

Overwhelmed by information?

Got too much to do? Too little time? Perhaps it's time to clear the path. To pare your life into its wonderful essentials.

Many of our key choices won't rest on saying yes to great opportunities. Instead, the bulk of life-changing decisions involve saying no to unessentials and lesser things.

"Minimalism" and "living with less" is a current fad. Why? We have TOO MUCH surrounding us. Our brains get confused and overwhelmed by trivial. Details demand to be touched or negotiated.

Collecting too much of a good thing?

How was your morning? In the closet, did your trousers,  jackets, and shirts (blouses)  hang willy-nilly. Did choosing your outfit take more than a few minutes?

Instead of an easy 10-minute routine, did you root through the "plenty" in the bathroom for basics? Sort through skin cream / makeup and scramble for a fresh tube of toothpaste? Hesitate about which shampoo to use in the shower? Argh. Was there even time for a shower? Were you running late with too much to do before you left the house?

Was the rest of the day similar? Were you exhausted and discouraged by nightfall ... because you had too many plates and too much on those places. Did you drown in the details?

The top shelf "during":
piles pushed to one side
to install separators

As readers know, I'm on a clearing streak.  I've been sorting things I no longer use out of my life. This morning the top rack of my closet fell victim to my efforts. I'm glad I forgot to snap a picture of the before, with sweaters and tops leaning on each other. I recorded the during and after.

EEEK. That's all I can say. Eeek!

The top shelf "after': sorted into types (turtlenecks,
sweaters, T-shirts, etc.)

I'm no perfectionist: so what if the folded stacks lean a bit. I'm no minimalist: I kept clothes I've recently worn. I'm not obsessive about details: who cares about color coding? As with cooking, my creative method is to stand in front of the possibilities and quickly pluck items to go "into the soup" or on my back.

But I've been startled by this common sense, which eluded me before. As the house gets more orderly, it's becoming easier to define other choices. To say "Yes" to things that God is calling me to, and "No" to expectations that don't align with what I hear in prayer, meditation on God's Word, or from the counsel of those I trust.

Just the basics, please!

Some mornings when my toes touch the ground, I hear a little voice urging, "Go girl! Just go!" The hurdles and obstacles to a productivity seems fewer and further between with so many "NO!s" in the recent past.

How would you define your recent choices? Is there time to think? To reflect? Then to move "full steam ahead" once your course is charted?

Or is your life cluttered with so much "good" that the way forward seems impossible?

Read more:
*A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. Rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all. Proverbs 22:1-2 NIV

*Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:22-26 NIV

*God says, “From this time forward I make you hear new things, hidden things that you have not known.” Isaiah 48:6

*Let anyone with ears to hear listen! Luke 8:8

Moravian Prayer: Holy Redeemer, as we face another day, enable us to spend quality time in communion with you. Touch our listening ears and teach us how to have a closer walk with you. In your name we pray. Amen.