Luke 12:15 ESV “Take care, and be on your guard against all
covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of
his possessions.”
As always, as Thanksgiving nears and I think what I am thankful for, first off, I am forever thankful for my Lord and Redeemer, my family, my church, and all of you!! So many of you have supported us in so many ways this year, encouraging Bernie in ministry! It's been a wonderful year for him ministry-wise and we hope to re-do our website in 2017 to reflect a slightly refined focus. Bernie has been kept rather busy with many ministry invitations and requests and had much positive affirmation and feedback. The Lord is using him in a rather unique way to reach out with the gospel message as told through the pages of American history. And the Lord is using Bernie's gospel centered words to bear fruit for His Kingdom! What a privilege and blessing for us!
But this year something else comes to mind that I am grateful for, something I have been embracing and experiencing this past year, that is summed up with the phrase "less is more!"
It has been, my friends, a year of "Un-shopping."
Un-shopping - my definition. "giving away, using up, selling and getting things out of my home in much greater quantities than what I buy and bring into my home."
Goal for 2016 - Each year I like to give myself some sort of focus for the year and this past January I set for myself a main focus to keep as I walked through the year - to "Simplify" in all areas. "Use it up, wear it out, make it last, do without."
Simplify our budget.
Use up what we have.
Get rid of what we don't need or use.
Moving towards Minimalism? I had some inspiration on youtube and began my quest to move things out. I wouldn't say I am becoming a minimalist or expect to ever truly be one, but I think I have been inspired to seek a simpler lifestyle by the minimalist movement. Beautiful things give me a lot of pleasure - maybe I am an artist at heart and I love to create beauty and give gifts to that end. But over many years a person like me can accumulate a lot of stuff! Settling out both my parents' estates brought more stuff, too, things attached to their memory which is all that remains of their lives on earth.
This year something moved in me to desire to spend the rest of the time the Lord gives me on earth, becoming smaller, giving away, selling and getting rid of more than I take in - to go from 'more' to 'less' rather than the other way around (which is what happened in most all the years prior.) I actually like to organize and de-clutter and do that fairly regularly, but yet, I was hanging on to too much stuff and I really wanted to work harder on simplifying my life as much as possible to have more time to focus on what is important to me.
Urgency - I have had, for some reason, a sense of
urgency with this that actually produced some anxiety at times!
But honestly it also was fun, even exhilarating to begin moving
that direction. One result was my granddaughters holiday dresses
made from a lot of purple dupioni silk I bought at a really good
price after Bethy was born 7 years ago, for Kerin's mother to make
dresses for baby Bethy, 1 year old Rachel and 3 year old Abbi.
Many yards of fabric were left, so now about 7 years later I used
up most of it and added a layer of sheer fabric I bought a few
years ago, to make 5 more dresses for the holidays this year.
Exhilarating! - It really has been fun to use up
things in other areas, to find recipes to use up unusual dry goods
I had bought and never used, and things in my freezer, as well as
beauty products that had accumulated. Chia and hemp seeds bought
when I was making seed milks a while back had never been used up
and were stored in my freezer - now they found their way into 'the
best granola I ever had' (to quote Abbi). Extra Burt's Bees lip balms became
treasures for the grandchildren. Dan is
beginning to sell our used books on Amazon. Things
were sorted and organized to a greater degree and more
aggressively than I have in a while, then released in much greater
quantities. Clothes were consigned. I read and watched videos about the 'capsule
wardrobe.' I know I love color and variety too much to ever have a true 'capsule' but am trying to reduce my wardrobe to what I really wear and love, and I am getting rid of a lot. I got a popular book
on 'tidying' and honestly the author's system is what I have done
all my life, so it is not foreign to me, but what was new was the
idea to keep only what brings me joy. It has helped me to think
of 'stuff' that way, and helped me release things more easily. For clothes if you don't wear it, let it
go. If it's uncomfortable, let it go. For stuff, if you don't use it, let it go, if you have duplicates and 'back-ups', let them go, if
it brings sad feelings, let it go!!! (Ha! Am I detecting a children's movie theme song that was very popular last year? So funny, just thought of that as I am writing right now...)
1 Timothy 6:6-7 ESV "For godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it."
30 Day Challenge - Several months this fall I
did a '30 day challenge' which was to get rid of the amount of
things corresponding to the date. By the end of the month you
have culled almost 500 items. Small things count, like something
in your fridge you use up and don't replace, old pens that don't
work any more, or things donated or sold can count as well. I
actually did this in August, September and October. :) Another thing that happened is
that sometimes I pulled out something that had been stored and
unused for a while and was inspired to use it rather than
automatically getting rid of it, which was fun, too! My house is a
bit retro decorated this fall because of that, as I am using some
country style things I purchased in the late 80s and early 90s.
But they make me happy and are attached to fun memories and work
with other things I have. So it isn't just about getting rid of
things, also about joy and about using things I have rather than
redoing or buying new.
Results! So here I am in November,
and it is quite exciting and rewarding to have seen so much
progress this year, and I hope to continue this for the rest of my
life! :) Hopefully by the time I am ready to leave this earth,
things will be simple for husband and/or my children to deal with - I am really
hoping all the decisions have been made and the stuff left is not
overwhelming.
I also had an emotional goal this year that I didn't do quite so well with, but if at first you don't succeed, try try again. Still it was really good to identify it is as an emotional goal! And I am sure the Lord will continue to help me in that area, and maybe next year will see better results, and maybe I will tell you about it next year if I feel I am succeeding. :)
But achieving in this area of 'simplifying' has been huge and worth the work and time it took, and I am so grateful for what the Lord has helped me achieve! Many more layers will be peeled off in the future, Lord willing, and I am far, far from finished, but much progress has been made.
So this year, when I think of what I am thankful for, I am actually thankful for 'less.' Less to take care of, less to
organize, less clutter!
Luke 16:11 ESV "If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?"