I´m decluttering once again. This time in the cellar (in the States that would probably be your garage).
I don´t know if you are like me, but everything I don´t need in the house or is in my way goes into that room.
Our cellar (the room for storage belonging to our flat) is not that big (about 120 square feet).
The good thing about that is that my storage place is quite limited and I just can´t keep that much stuff! (like people with a bigger storage room and maybe even a big garage and an attic as well!)
But there is too much stuff in this room anyway. It is filled with a lot of sports equipment (for skiing, canoeing, horseback riding, ice-skating, roller-skating, snorkeling, swimming, fishing, camping… most of the items for five people mind you!), tools and wood (my husband is also a carpenter, which is really practical but needs a lot of equipment as well), and a lot of other things: flower pots, paints, Christmas decoration, electrical stuff like cables, car equipments, two foldable guest mattresses and bed linens, picture frames, winter jackets, winter shoes, costumes,… childhood memories: lego-duplo, playmobil, a wodden stable, a drum, old video recordings and photo negatives from the last century.
Hm… It really is astonishing that all these things fit into this small room! (I´m quite good in organizing stuff.)
I´ve thought and written several times about not wanting to be anxious about my future:
I want to trust God caring for me. I have all that I need!
(Even enough yeast and toilet paper, although I could live without, if I needed to!)
But I have never considered the fact, that this trusting in God also goes for the things that I already have and can give away. I have things in this room that I actually don´t need but am keeping because I COULD need them some day. Me or somebody else.
Maybe one of our kids needs a costume for a camp one summer?
Or somebody wants to write a banner on an old white sheet?
Or wants to take a flag to a congress?
Wants to fan a campfire with a Spanish fan?
Yesterday I went through the box full of costumes and got rid of almost everything in there.
I tried them on and I knew that none of us would feel comfortable in those things. They are old and used up.
And the other things have to go as well.
I want to trust God caring for our needs in the future if we should need some of those things again.
It´s a waste of place and time to hord all those things for decades. For an eventual occasion that will never come.
If I pass it on right away, another person can use it.
If I keep it in my cellar it gets old and I can only put it in the trash if I wait too long.
So many things have simply always been there. Like the patchwork blanket tucked away in a suitcase.
Things from the past, I don´t use anymore.
Don´t get me wrong, I like old things. But not all of them and not that many!
If I keep things out of a bad conscience it´s not a good thing. As it is with keeping stuff because of fear: I could need one of those things one day…
Sharing, being generous. Not hording. That´s the way!
Why am I keeping all of that lego-duplo?
It was a mummy-collecting-drive. The kids liked to play with it but now it is using up space without being played any more.
Am I keeping it for my future grandchildren? Probably.
But I could buy new duplo for my grandchildren, or even better: I could buy second hand.
But maybe we don´t even want our kids to play with plastic anymore in a few years…!
Then I would have kept it for nothing and nobody would even buy it from me anymore. Bad investment!
It could have been used from other kids over the last eight years or so. But it was hidden away.
Do I trust God providing for the things I need right now, the things that are good for me?
And am I trusting him doing so for the future as well? For me and my children?
I read an article once about psychology say that the cellar stands for the past and the attic for the future.
Both should be free of burdens from the past…
Can I let go of old things? Especially when they are a burden?
I tried on a Dirndl (a traditional Austrian dress) from my aunt yesterday.
I never liked it. It´s red, dark blue and light blue. I kept it in the costume box for years in case I needed it.
But I don´t even want to need it!
Now I just don´t have a Dirndl. And no Austrian flag either.
Both is not me. I ´m not patriotic. I mean I like my country and I like living here, but it does not define my identity.
(But I did keep the traditional jacket because I like it. And the Mexican sleeveless jacket as well J)
While reading about the feeding of the 4000 people in Matthew 15, I recently noticed that it does not say, what happened with the leftovers.
The disciples gave Jesus what they had (seven loaves of bread) and he multiplied it. Everyone ate as much as he liked. And then they collected seven baskets of leftovers. Everyone was full.
What happened with those seven baskets?
First I thought that everybody took something along, the disciples also. But apparently not:
"While on their way to the other side of the lake, in the boat, Jesus warns them of the Pharisee yeast.
At first they think he is scolding them for forgetting bread…!
“Why all these worried whispers about forgetting the bread? Runt believers! Haven´t you caught on yet? Don´t you remember the five loaves of bread and the five thousand people, and how many baskets of fragments you picked up? Or the seven loaves that fed four thousands, and how many baskets of leftovers you collected? Haven´t you realized yet that bread isn´t the problem?
The problem is yeast, Pharisee-Sadducee yeast.
Then they got it: that he wasn´t concerned about eating, but teaching – the Pharisee-Sadducee kind of teaching.”
It´s about life philosophy.
As far as I know, Pharisee and Sadducee teaching was a lot about rules. And righteousness.
They wanted to do everything proper, especially for their own good.
Being accepted, rich and admired but morally clean.
They wanted to have everything under control. Themselves and others. To have it made. No surprises.
Seeing everything in black and white. They had their lives in their own hands and made a career even and especially in their religion. Jesus was way too radical for them.
This philosophy is still alive. But it has other names now. Religion? Consumerism? Economy? Financial security? Egoism? Career? Success? Self-sufficiency? Independence?
I want to be in the boat with Jesus even if I don´t know where he will get bread from the next time to feed us all.
Or clothes to fit us out for a knight-camp.
Or toys for my grandchildren. (In ten years maybe?)
Letting go is hard.
“Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” one asks.
“If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you”, Jesus answers.
“I´ve done all that. What´s left?”
“If you want to give it all you´ve got”, Jesus replied, “go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.”
That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crestfallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn´t bear to let go.
As he watched him go, Jesus told his disciples, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for the rich to enter God´s kingdom?”
The disciples were staggered. “Then who has a chance at all?”
“No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.” (Matthew 19)