Keep, Sell or Donate

For those of you who don't know, we've been working every weekend for the past few months emptying a relative's house of 55 yrs. of living in the same place. Today was the last day. Everyone was out of the house except me, and I was taking a little break. As I stood there and looked around at the empty rooms several thoughts occurred to me.

We spend so much of our lives "acquiring." I love looking for items to fit into my "collections." I poke around flea markets, garage sales and antique stores...always on the lookout for something else...some other possession. How many hours have I wasted searching for that illusive something and as soon as I find it...I move on to searching for some other possession, never satisfied with what I just found.

Today we sold the last of possessions that have been around for a very long while. As I removed bric a brac from shelves and tables, I thought about how in the not so distant future, my own child and his children will have to sift through ALL my stuff and decide what to Keep, Sell or Donate. I felt really sorry for them at that moment because even though I don't keep lots of old papers and jars and cans, I DO keep tons of other stuff. There's nothing of great value really, but they are my memories. As we ended the process of throwing this person's stuff away, it hit me, this was her life, her precious memories, her possessions. Everyone of those things meant something to her and now they will be divided and disbursed throughout our family, never to be under one roof again.

On one hand, it was a relief to have the job done, but on the other, it was the shredding of someone's home and their way of life. I know you can't "take it with you" and I know exactly what the Scripture teaches about possessions (and I agree wholeheartedly), but this experience has given me a new perspective of the way I live. I think I am going to do my family a great big favor and begin the purging now. I've known others who have started the process early and I never really understood it until the last few years. It's really a kindness to those left with the task. For the past few years I haven't felt that "wanderlust" feeling that I used to feel, and I really am becoming fully satisfied with the things with which I have been blessed. What a pity that it took me this long to draw these conclusions. I hope you will learn from a "slow learner", me.