Clutter

 The past weeks, my life has revolved around two things. Dirt and clutter!

Brent has been such a good helper this week! He emptied a tote (one that will go with us to Africa) in order to use it to get to the coffee pot. 

  If you want true motivation to clean and organize, sell your house! Knowing strangers are going to walk through my house examining every corner, closet, and cupboard was intimidating to me. I wanted to leave them with an excellent impression. And so we house cleaned, we cleaned out, reorganized, and tidied every closet, drawer, and shelf. We eliminated things to make rooms appear larger and brighter. The weeks leading up to open house felt like a repeat of the one before. We moved from room to room, closet to closet. And did the same process with each item we laid our hands on. Store? Sell? Take to Africa? At the first open house I felt like we made it! But just barely. There was a closet or two I hoped people wouldn't feel the urge to look in. The next week I took care of those. And when Friday came and it was time to make the house neat as a pin again, I couldn't believe how easy it was. We had sorted and stored quite a few of the smaller toys, games and books that are going along to Africa, so picking up toys only took half the time. And I could welcome the people in and not cringe when they paused near a certain closet door.

He doesn't like our cold tile floor, but when everyone else is in the kitchen that is where he wants to be. So we often see him laying on a rug taking a break from his packing☺☺

  Kenny and I have both resolved over and over, that we will not accumulate this much stuff again! I would have never considered myself a pack rat but I am beginning to wonder. Moving this time is so different. You never pick up an item and say, "Oh, we might want that some day! Lets just take it along!" This time I pack with three boxes. One to store, one to sell, and one to take along. The store pile all needs to get hauled to my parents garage attic. So only things of sentimental value, or things that can't be easily replaced or are expensive make it in those boxes. The take along pile is very limited, to the best of my ability, I need to fit all of it in 10 or 11 totes, weighing no more then 50 pounds each, to lug to the airport. The sale pile is the easiest to dispose of. Put it in box lots, stack it on a table in the shop, and let other people (hopefully) deal with it after paying us small sums of money for it. But! I also know that, that pile is very final! No hope of getting it back when we arrive home again.

  The children have co-operated very well. I was afraid getting rid of their things would be like pulling teeth. But it helps when they are excited about an airplane ride, elephants, and such things.(Hopefully they aren't too disappointed when they realize it will be more like, traffic jams, stray dogs, goats and sheep and hot, hot days!) I think it has been harder on me then anyone else.And I also think the main reason is how many things I have to go through. I love outgrown shopping! And while I am buying things at a greatly reduced cost, I wonder how much money I actually save? Because I definitely come home with more things than I would at a regular store.
  I have justified myself in buying things. I am not buying them at full price. It's a bargain! We have the money to pay for them. It's not like we can't afford them! Other people have lots of things! We don't have as many things as some people do! And I know when I start using the "other people" excuses it's time to re-examine myself.
  While I was sweeping my kitchen floor last week, I started thinking. All the things I thought we needed, all the things we wanted. Those things took up space. They took time. They cluttered my life. Even if they were put away, organized, or stored in the attic, they cluttered my life! How much easier would it have been to host people if there weren't as many toys to pick up before they arrived? How much time did we waste with our things, when we could have been blessing someone else? How much easier to follow God's call would it be if I hadn't accumulated earthly possessions?
  Will I remember this lesson I learned when we return from Africa? I hope so! I hope that watching the Ghanaian people live with so little, cures me of the 'need' for much.
  But it also brought to mind my spiritual life. Do I allow clutter and dirt in my mind that make me lose focus on Christ? Our tradition of spring and fall counsel and communion serve as reminders to house clean my spiritual life. Have I allowed my devotions to take the back burner in my busy days? Has my standard on what books I read slipped? What am I allowing my mind to feed on? Am I developing a negative attitude toward life?
  If my daily life is so much easier without as many things of this world, will my spiritual life not also be better without allowing the things of this world to clutter it?

He has been rearranging this cupboard frequently. Unfortunately he still hasn't gotten the hang of getting it back in properly!