Thank you for stopping by my blog.

I write day after day because I discover extraordinary lessons from ordinary life experiences. I record my visual portraits of everyday life filled with something sacred in hopes that my reflections might bring an insight that blesses my readers.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Hoarding then purging treasures.


Accumulation

As I continue to sift through closets, the garage, attic, drawers, files, boxes, I am amazed at what has come through my doors and been stored in forty years.  I have had a headache for the last week.  Granted, it is diagnosed as a sinus infection, but I suspect it is the weight of this “stuff” boggling my mind and burdening my spirit.  I continue attempting how to dispense all of these items. 
I have sent fifty plus boxes to the auction and will take a large load tomorrow.  The mission truck will take about thirty boxes plus some furniture.  I have given linens and pottery to friends, packed boxes for the kids with the few treasures they want, and still the house seems full.  I have had a huge yard sale and two art sales. I have worked at giving, donating, selling, and packing for 25 days.
How do we accumulate so much?  I knew my art room was packed with supplies, but I never imagined I had so many magazines, paints, papers, scrapbooks, and stamps.  If this move has taught me anything, it has shown me accumulation is a curse.  I have tried to store up manna, and God clearly said it could not be done.  I never realized manna could be defined as abundance, collections, supplies, or antiques.  Now, I understand why someone declared, “The greatest inheritance to your children is to rid your home of collections from the past years.” 
I am pledging that I am done with carrying items into my house.  I desire to keep our new home clear of anything extra.  I suspect my hoarding is a result of my mother, grandmother, and grandfather, who were reared in poverty and saved everything to be reused or redesigned into a useful item.  I apparently mimicked their collecting even though I have not known their kind of poverty.  After twelve years of retirement, I realize I should have tried this purging much earlier.  Instead, I went to conventions and learned new things to make, do, and collect.
On with my sorting and giving and packing.  This life lesson is most sobering and exhausting.  

No comments:

Post a Comment