This photo my brother-in-law posted from the beginning of the Inca Trail resonated with me as I struggled with holding on to tangible objects that are hindering my path.
I have been feeling overwhelmed with stuff these days. Lowell’s 47 pairs of socks are nothing compared to my drawer (watch the children’s sermon this past week). For the past 6 months, we have been cleaning out my mom’s condo to get it ready for sale. That combined with my daughter moving home during a time of school transition and our own stuff of 32 years of marriage, are weighing heavily on me.
I feel like I have a healthy relationship with purchasing and collecting. We don’t value our possessions over relationships or experiences, but we live the typical, suburban, American life which includes so much stuff. There is stuff like the old coffee pot that we used as kids to play in the water at my grandma’s lake house that brings priceless memories? Then there are the boxes and boxes of old photos, yearbooks, and cards? My mom had 3 Christmas trees from when we downsized each year because it was too much to put up the big one when she wasn’t feeling well. However, we never let go of the bigger ones because we might want to put them up again in the future and trees are so expensive, we wouldn’t want to buy a big one again. They will fit in our garage…but do they really?
Throw in the guilt of adding to a landfill or trying to figure out if Goodwill or St. Vincent’s will even take an old metal filing cabinet or whether grandma’s china has any value? It is overwhelming.
There are wonderful moments of our lives that are intertwined with an object, a photo or a memento. However, there is a point when all the stuff pushes out the ability to live in the fullness of God’s plan for us. What if I just rest in the knowledge that my mom’s life, my life, are lives well lived? We don’t need to wrestle with losing a memory or making the “right” decision on the future of a possession because if we live with our heart and mind set on Jesus, all else falls in place.
Sharing with my children that their grandma was the welcoming force everywhere she went or that every batch of cookies she made was usually for someone else to brighten their day or contribute to a bake sale creates a world that follows the example of Jesus. It’s not whether we have that old coffee pot to remember her. They felt her love, they saw her living out her faith and could easily envision the stories told. Trusting that when we let go, our lives can be filled with a bigger purpose.
Are there things you can let go of to make room for God to work more fully in your life? Can you trust that empty space will be filled with different but better goodness?
God knows our needs, holds our loved ones, and our memories in the hands that will never let us go. It’s time for me to release the overwhelming responsibility of all the stuff. I need to move forward, trusting the decisions I am making are the best I can make at this moment in time.
“Take only memories, leave only footprints” seems like the path Jesus would be walking with me.
God’s peace always,
Angie Seiller, Director of Faith Formation
P.S. Shameless plug … Didn’t even think about it until after I wrote the blog, I promise! I know some people actually enjoy sifting through stuff and giving it new life and meaning. How about helping with the Lord of Life Rummage Sale in the fall? We need co-chairs! Talk about a bigger purpose. You would be investing in the faith and community of our youth. Let’s talk! The sale is tentatively set for Saturday, October 1.