We had stuff.
We have stuff.
We journeyed from stuff to barely enough.
Our first home that we owned was small. Built in the 1920's when closets were unnecessary, malls didn't exist and people didn't require multiple outfit changes in case they wore the same outfit twice in different pictures! We had come from apartment renting. And even though our home was considered small we had other family members living with us on and off for three years. At one point our home housed five cats, two small dogs, one baby and five adults including all of our "stuff".
But then we grew.
Baby number four wasn't going to deter us from our small home. We were minimalistic, we had to be. I was babysitting on the side and considered my home a small business of sorts. Yet, when the time came for us to transport ourselves twelve hours of a drive away we became aware of the amount of stuff we had. While our charming home was, hmmmm small and it seemed as though we had a handle on keeping clutter low and accumulation down we found out we were wrong.
That was our dining room, see how the design of the house is? We loved our cosy little home, we entertained a lot in it without much of an issue. Yet even that dining room set was given away when we moved and downsized.
Here is another picture that shows the outlay of the home.
We sold the tv in the background.
We sold our second car.
It just couldn't come with. We kept the children in this next photo, but most of those toys were given away ;-)
We had to keep our home picture perfect for house showings when we placed the house on the market, that spring of 2013. What a chore it was! Me with first trimester illnesses, three babies, babysitting off and on combined with pets! I never wish to do that again. We must've pulled it off, after thirty showings (I counted) we had a buyer!!!!
We were excited for 5.2 seconds.
Then we had to pack and downsize while we figured out that mostly everything had to go. We were only taking one truck, one vehicle, and we hadn't even discovered a rental home in our new state......
The truck we rented for our journey seemed huge. Yet after two dressers, one bed frame, my husband's tools for his job, and you know, the usual bins of outgrown clothing, one crib, dishes, blankets. Somehow those things take up space! I gave away books, clothing, decorative things, most dishes, most pans, sold my sewing machine, gave away a lot of crafting items. It was an eye opening experience.We had stuff alright and it felt as though we were going to have barely enough when we'd arrive in Kentucky!
My pride went out the window as I gave away stuff
Who was I without it? I'd always enjoyed clothing,shoes, my crafts, my books, my display items, my plants! Even though I'd given away and sold much things broke on that truck ride to Kentucky and I wished I'd have given it away. I had two crock pots and one broke, two deep frying pans one broke. Favorite cups, mirrors, dressers were scratched, things chipped. We were also between jobs, homeless and coming out of a financially drained situation. Replacement wasn't going to happen.
Humans base much on stuff. They hoard, they place value, the memorize exactly how much they paid for something. Some of my family members have quoted price, and memories concerning an object. Some extended family members have added extra room, built extra garages and have purchased extra storage for stuff. Some people display anger when someone touches their stuff, maybe borrows without asking, or damages it unknowingly.
That wasn't me was it? I was giving things away, yet I still felt loss until God whispered that I wasn't any better than a hoarder. Our journey from stuff to barely enough was a wake up call to the things God wants a Christian to place value on.
James 4:1-3
" what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have, you commit.murder. you are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives so that you may spend it on your own pleasures."
Does stuff own you?
Are you finding that the more you obtain the more you have to worry over? Is stuff causing arguments, anxieties, stress? Maybe stuff isn't even the problem, it's a heart issue that needs to be taken up with God.
With Grace, time, patience and actively searching for God's will, our family is on it's way to devaluing stuff. Even if it means we have to live with barely anything in the process.
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