I’ve been on a quest. It is one that has caused my living room to be a small disaster zone. The floor is lined with books and old cell phones and cords that belong to forgotten electronics. The quest is is to have fewer belongings. Allyn is being exceptionally supportive by helping me sort through all the boxes that are rotting in the basement. Okay, so they aren’t actually rotting – but they might as well be the way we are using them… which is to say that we are not using them. And so our living room is made up of piles. Sell, giveaway, things we are not quite ready to part with even though we perhaps should be.
I’m blogging about it here because it feels like a spiritual practice. Perhaps the main reason for that is the 30 Day Giveaway Challenge I’m participating in. Rules are simple – give away 30 things in 30 days. I decided I wanted to double that, so I’ve been giving away 2 things away for the past 5. Handing things that have just been taking up space. Giving them to people who will use them. Some items may go to those who lost everything in the recent tornado. Random knickknacks may find a home at a thrift store.
There is something freeing about handing things off. I’ve put too much of my identity in the books and films on my shelf. Not that I’m free of that. There are still books I’m keeping that I may never read. And I hve not taken a single movie off the shelf (I must admit, I hadn’t even considered sorting through THOSE till just now. Oops). But I’m letting go just a little. And maybe someday I’ll find the courage to continue that – to keep those things that help me love God, myself and others more and to let go of those things that just hitch a ride from house to house, but have no real value.
Read more from Jennifer at her blog.
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