and a season for every activity under the heavens (v. 1)
… a time to keep and a time to throw away (v. 6)
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 6
We are moving (more details on that coming soon).
It is not the first time. In fact, this is the longest I have ever lived in one place. And each time we move we go through our possessions and decide what to keep and what to throw away or give away.
Every day we are throwing or giving something away. (See pictures.)
I can be sentimental, plus I have a hard time making decisions. Like most people, especially Americans, we have accumulated quite a bit of stuff over our lifetime. Much of my “stuff” is not valuable economically, but it is sentimentally. I am old enough to have accumulated thousands of photographs, cards, letters, notes, and mementos related to experiences with family, friends, students, and church life.
It is hard to know where even to begin deciding what keep.
In many different ways God has been putting Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV) in front of me:
… Do not dwell upon the things of the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
Cathy read a book last year titled, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. One of the options is to find joy in each object one last time, and then let it go and move on.
I think as disciples the main direction in our lives is forward, not backward. Memories are meant to help us move forward in faith, not backward to experiences we can’t relive.How about you? Are there things that you are holding onto that are keeping you from moving forward in faith?