And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” (Luke 3: 10-13)
As many of you know, Nicola and I moved to Framingham this winter (Go, Flyers!). The process came through an unusual amount of serendipity, a story I’d be delighted to recount with you sometime. The unexpected process left us only a short period of time in which we knew we were moving, but weren’t yet to the point of filling moving boxes in our apartment. In that brief fortnight our minds were engaged to do something for the overarching project, but couldn’t realistically start blocking all our fields of vision with corrugated cardboard. Our epiphany was a delightful idea, I only wish we’d have had more time to execute it: Downsize into a larger house.
What’s that mean, exactly? Simply put, we made an attempt to get our lives in order such that we would only bring the good, the desirable to our new home. We tackled our wardrobes asking those questions we are told to ask more regularly than any of us actually do: “Does this spark joy?” (a nod to Marie Kondo), “When was the last time you used this?” And then, once we got to the point of chosen separation with each item, my inventory manager side came out “Does this item still have residual value (i.e. Goodwill) or not (i.e. trash).”
It is very hard for both of us to part with many things, but it can be cathartic. Once we got into it, though, I found that I was “decluttering” in other ways too. Asking a mover to bring a broken bed frame to a different closet in a new house would be foolhardy. We can all see that. But the project began to move in much less physical ways. I began to delete outdated files from our computer and hope for rebuilding some distant relationships. I regularly said “I don’t want to bring any baggage with us.” Two weeks was not enough time, it turned out. There we were on our final days, filling boxes with items that potentially could have been tossed years ago. That said, I think we put in a good effort and began to change our ways a bit. I remember, for one, an old speaker I couldn’t part with and brought along for the ride. When it appeared during our unpacking, I looked at it, and thought “I could probably be ready to get rid of this.” Just because I’d reframed, as if the pride in our new house gave me a new lens on this situation.
Yes, two weeks was not enough time. Honestly, forty days probably will not be either, but I can see now where I want to be, and that’s a start.
God, open our eyes, so that we can see where abundance and excess begin to overlap. Guide us that we may make good choices regarding our “stuff”. Use us to help others. Amen