Sabbatical Day 25
I placed in a pile:
- The top of a cardboard box
- Two feathers
- A Polaroid film wrapper
- One small rock
Our ten-year-old is a hoarder.
The above-mentioned are just a few of the things in her backpack that didn't make the cut this morning. After two great weeks in Colorado spending time with both sides of the family, I packed Rylie back up. She and Hallie are going to spend a week with my in-laws while Jason and I finish up our time of study and rest here in Colorado.
It was important that I get rid of unnecessary junk from her bags so that the needful stuff would fit, you know, like her toothbrush and clothes. I had to divide her things in three categories.
- Stuff she needs daily (That went into a backpack and duffel bag that she carried with her)
- Stuff to put back that she'll be able to use or enjoy later (I took her winter clothes out of her duffel. She used them for the cool evenings here but won't need them again for months. I kept her muffin tin and decorating tips too. All of her baking items are in a Walmart bag kept safe for when we get back home.)
- Junk I can't deal with (Along with the up-top mentioned items, I disposed of a "WalMart bag-full" of things like an IOU notecard that Hallie wrote saying she owes Rylie Babybel cheese for taking Rylie's last cupcake a few weeks ago. Hallie must have paid the cheese because a small red sculpture made out of Babybel wax was in Rylie's bag too I chunked /with a small measure of guilt/ a VBS craft Rylie made at my mom's church. Then there's the one rock that escaped her small black velvet rock bag. I returned it to nature. Colorado is going to run out of rocks before the the girls outgrow their hobby for rock collecting. Truth be known I still collect rocks too.)
(Back to business) I down-sized my daughter's load making life for the next week better. She'll have easier access to the things she needs without the excess. The weight she carries will be less.
What would she do without me?
I wonder what God wants to remove from my "carry space".
...No, really I don't. For the most part I know the things that belong in my twenty-four hours and I'm quite familiar with the extra things I stuff in. I have a pretty good idea of what I waste my time and space on; those things that make my life heavier, more complicated and too swift to fully appreciate.
Still, I stuff in rocks and other pretty things that temporarily suit my fancy but leave me both heavy and empty.
I'd like to think God categorizes stuff for me too, if only I'd pay closer attention and then devote some trust toward his thoughts.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8
He knows what I need daily. He knows I need peace, patience and unconditional, always available love. He's the source for those things. He my guide. He saves me. My tote overflows.
He has a "for later" space. In it, I believe are the answers for the tough life questions I have. It holds the cure for disease, all ailments including my sometimes broken heart. There's room enough in it for an eternity of "good things for those who have waited".
...lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.Matthew 6:20-21
He knows my junk; the hours I spend trying, in vain, to figure things out. He knows my worldly weaknesses; my lust for creature comforts, the stuff I accumulate that crowds out the time He purposes for bigger and holier things. He allows me the opportunity to "clean out" my "bag". Some of the stuff he removes for me, but unlike the decluttering assistance I provide my children that's highly based on getting rid of things which annoy me and are too much to organize, God gets rid of stuff based on his fantastic plan which only includes the best things.
Sabbath. It's a time where "cleaning out" and resting are mutually accomplished...Where "you get rid of" and end up with more.