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Pretty amazing,huh? It looks so great and feels so good to have it cleaned out. In fact, it feels so good that I'm now motivated to start really cleaning out the rest of the house. It makes life so much simpler plus it feels good to know that others outside of our family are benefiting as well. Giving it away is so much an important part of the Christian faith but I find myself too often clinging to "my stuff". But every time this past week that I got tempted to hold on to something that I really did not need, I would be reminded of the verses in the Bible that referred to giving to the poor, especially the one about if I see my brother without a cloak and I have two, then I need to give him one. Well I definitely have more than one "cloak" cluttering up our house.
I'm finding that the more I get to know those in need, the easier it is to give it away.
As Shane Claiborne said in IRRESISTIBLE REVOLUTION, its not that the American church doesn't care about the poor, its that we don't know the poor.
Now I know the poor, my eyes have been opened, my heart has been changed, and I'm without excuse. Okay, I've got excuses, but in the face of the needs around me...and even bigger, in the face of Jesus' sacrifice...they're pretty lame.
6 comments:
AWESOME JOB!! It looks GREAT!! We just did something similar in our closet today. What amazed me was that we had 4 trash bags FULL of clothing...and our closet is still full.
Tell Anna we hope we will be there when she gets there...are you guys still planning on going over too...with Tom?
WOW!!WOW,WOW,WOW!!!! Great job!
Nice work! It does feel amazing to be free of so much stuff.
Funny though... I think your attic is about the same size as my apartment :)
Great job! I know that you feel like you can breathe now. I have a room that looks just like that and I've been dreading the task...but you've inspired me (as usual). : )
Thank y'all for your encouraging words. I realize that as much as I'd like to do a fast, total purge to the rest of the house, realistically its not going to happen. So I've decided today that I'm setting a goal of collecting at least one bag or box of stuff every day to get rid of. Hopefully, I'll have opportunities to do some intense de-stuffing here and there, but at least this way, I'll be steadily chipping away at all the stuff that burdens us down PLUS blessing others in the meantime.
There is a great local ministry called GATEWAY RESCUE MISSION. They help folks who are homeless, addicted to drugs, etc. and helps give them a new start. I can donate stuff to them and they use the items either for the people they minister to (such as some of the clothes) OR they sell it in their thrift store. The money they make helps fund their ministry and the inexpensive items also serve the community as its a good way to find things you need when you're on a tight budget. OH! And the people that work there are mostly folks that they are helping get a new start in life. So its a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Elysa, we had a room in our basement in Ohio that looked just like that. When we moved, it HAD to be dealt with. And, before it was all said and done, I had donated about 20 bags of baby clothes to a Crisis Pregnancy Center, along with various items such as a cradle, bassinet, exersaucer, etc.
It was a little bit emotional for me, and a little bit scary (since, technically, we might not be "done"), but we just couldn't transport all that stuff down here based on what might happen (babywise) in the future. You should have seen the faces of those women at the CPC, though. They were shocked and thrilled! It was a good feeling. :-)
Now, I've been purging the junky toys and excess clothes that have been trashing my kids' rooms all year. I'm happy to report that the bedrooms have stayed NEAT & CLEAN for a whole week now! YAY! So, keep on keeping on, Elysa! Bless others with your giving as you bless your family with the downsizing. You can do it! Hugs!
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