An excess of stuff

I am not working today. I'm not sick, I simply canceled my sub jobs for the day and stayed home. It was lovely, and I was actually very productive. One thing I did today was go through boxes in the basement that I packed up 3 1/2 years ago when I went to Argentina. It really is amazing to me how much stuff I have down there. I managed to throw away quite a bit of stuff and consolidate some of what was left and eliminated two or three boxes, but there is still quite a bit there. The thing is, there is nothing really to do with most of it, and I can't quite bring myself to throw it away. What do you do, for example, with a box of grad school textbooks (that for the most part I didn't even read when I was in the class). They're 4-5 years old- too old to sell I would imagine. But to just throw out a box of mint condition books? I feel bad even donating them- who would want to read them?? I also have a couple of binders that are in great condition, amongst other things. I still have loads of teaching stuff- bins and stacking trays and classroom games and math manipulatives that I don't see myself flying to distant lands, but am not quite sure what to do with. I've also got a fair amount of household stuff- small kitchen appliances or placemats or utensils. And don't even start on the old photo albums or boxes of neatly organized pictures. Or the framed pictures. I found at least a dozen from various stages of life.

There are the practical questions- what am I going to do with all this stuff (other than leave it in the basement... for now) but it also makes me realize that I seriously do not need or want any more stuff! I hate throwing things away, not so much because I am going to miss it, but because I hate all that stuff going to the landfills. But beyond clothes, I'm not really sure I can donate too much of it. Which brings me back to- how can I stop acquiring stuff? Obviously, part of that answer is easy: stop buying it! Substitute teaching has helped cure me of a lot of my shopping habits. But there is more to it than that. I want a simpler lifestyle- more time, attention, and money on the things that matter (people), and less on the things that don't (stuff). Without just pitching a great deal of things (yes, Clare, even the sentimental ones) I'm not sure how to really pare down.

Maybe in another few weeks I'll have the motivation to go through the basement stuff again and purge some more, find somewhere that will accept non-clothing donations. I've done a few stages of it over the past few months and slowly but surely, the pile is shrinking. And if I can just keep from adding to it...

Predictions

Yesterday my extended family opened and read 10 year predictions we had made in early 2000 (we were a year late in getting to them). Writing long-range predictions can be fun, but it's a bit dangerous too. This was the second time (at least to my knowledge) that the family has done something like this, and the second time that one of the participants passed away during that decade. We all missed Gramma as we heard her predictions read, but I at least found it more comforting than devastating. Her voice was clear in what she had written- a reminder of her hopes, dreams, and vision for her family.

Some of the things we said were funny- my cousin, 15 at the time- thought that we'd be able to buy whatever we wanted online and then simply pull it out of the computer:) I predicted that just about every older cousin would leave SE Michigan, except for myself! Some predictions were quite accurate- personal phone numbers, for example, while others were way off- the DOW at 60,000?

The whole process got me thinking- the what will happen of the next 10 years is not nearly as important as who we will become. I don't know where I will be in 10 years, or what I will be doing, or what the state of the country or the world will be. But I do hope, that no matter what the circumstances, we are each more like Jesus than we are today. As Peter reminds us in 1 Peter, we are all strangers and exiles in this land, we live for an existence and a glory that cannot be comprehended on this present earth.

Next month, for Chinese New Year, we'll gather and write new 10 year predictions. I don't know what is going to happen externally in my life, but I pray that whatever it is, it makes and molds me into the woman of God that he wants me to be, that in 10 years I am more patient, more kind, more loving, more gentle, more faithful, more worshipful than I am today.