“The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don’t.” Marie Kondō
Meditation: Since we moved into our home eleven years ago, our basement has been a place where everything went that we did not need anymore, or for things that we could not let go of, as they were memories of former important or happy times. And so our basement became a place that only we family members and our exterminator were allowed to enter (and he was graciously walking around the piles of things, probably used to all kinds of cluttered basement spaces). Our basement is crowded, filled with books, papers, toys, memory items, furniture we might need again (or not), clothes, shoes etc. For the past four years, however, our girls dreamt of a large space where they could hang out with their friends and have sleepovers. Well, this summer I finally had enough. The time has come. I have started decluttering. Every evening I am spending about three hours in the basement sorting, cleaning out, filling bags for the second hand store, for the garbage bin and for the recycle container. The smallest bags are thankfully the “keep” bags. And so we are getting rid of what we don’t need, to make room for what our teenagers need. The clutter in the basement has been a load on my mind for years. As I am seeing the clutter diminish in small increments, and as I am making daily trips to “Goodwill” and the recycling container, I begin to feel so much lighter. Not only my girls needed this decluttered space. I did not know how much I needed it too.
Prayer: God, our clutter fills us with a heaviness that we often get used to, as the clutter accumulates so gradually. We hold on to the past as if keeping things would guarantee us happiness in the future. Sometimes tightly held on items even become our idols. Help us to let go of things that represent more a fear, a habit or a burden, than truly something we need or cherish. Help us to declutter our lives so that new space is being created that allows for new experiences, for new guests, new friends, new life…And we are grateful. Amen
Let go of your concerns! Then you will know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
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