Sorting through all our earthly belongings to move into a 5th wheel is a very overwhelming endeavor.
My friend Jenn, who blazed the full-timing trail for me, gave me really good advice for preparing for this new nomadic lifestyle. We were four months out from what would hopefully be our departure date and she suggested getting rid of a 4th of our belongings each month.
I started with things we weren’t using. Toys, dishes, games, etc… The tendency is to wait on most things because of the perception that they are being used. But as I started to sort stuff, I realize we really don’t use much of what is in our cabinets and closets. I posted items on Facebook Marketplace and then I put them in the garage. If someone wanted to buy it, I knew where it was and if not, it would become garage sale inventory (a pile growing larger by the day). I sold a lot of stuff like this, until quarantine life shut down my most productive local Marketplace.
The garage pile is now growing exponentially.
Anthony then started Craigslisting the bigger stuff. He listed all the furniture, not knowing how long it would take for it to actually sell. He paid Bennett to take pictures of all the random stuff we had stored in our garage so he could list it. Craigslisting is time consuming. But better than facing charges of arson.
Still remaining are odds and ends of random things. Picture frames and office supplies. Soccer cleats and throw pillows. Stuff that we don’t want to keep, but someone could use so it seems wasteful to toss. If only Goodwill would re-open and I could dump my abundant earthly blessings at their curb.
This whole experience is much more difficult than moving. I have moved many times over the years and while each move has brought a helpful purge of sorts, it has also encouraged my bad habit of “toss it in a box and I’ll sort it later.” (Later never coming, of course.)
So now those bottomless pits of boxes are being sorted and the “maybe we’ll use this somedays” are being tossed. And while it’s overwhelming and at times daunting, it also feels quite good.
There is just so much “stuff” in our life. So much excess. Deep cabinets and large garages that can hold all those things we don’t really need. So they sit there, unused and gathering dust. Taking up space and cluttering life. Deceptively promising their potential usefulness “someday.”
But there are also other things to part with. Things I love but can’t justify keeping. Stoneware that’s too heavy to travel with and doesn’t make a lot of sense to store.
This feels like a cleanse of sorts. And while I think often about how a match would be quicker and more efficient, it has actually felt productive to sort through things needing sorting.
It’s been symbolic of other things for me. Symbolic of all the thoughts and emotions and memories needing sorting. Priorities and focus. Some things I once valued the importance of were often stuck in a “box” for a more convenient time. Emphasis I put on prayer and spiritual growth sometimes gets edged back into the deep recesses of the closets of my life. Unintentionally, I put it where it becomes easily forgotten. Time puts other things of more pressing need in the front of those essentials and I get hung up in the daily. My weariness (or perhaps it’s passivity) allows the important things to gather dust.
This whole life shift has been beneficial for many areas of my life. Lots of restarting. Lots of purging. Lots of soul realization and changing.
Maybe its too daunting to sort through all my spiritual needs and misplaced priorities in one day. Maybe, like with the house, it can come in stages. Starting with one area and letting the Lord reveal to me what needs to go and what needs to stay.
Right now I have no choice to go through the earthly possessions. The clock is ticking and soon the boxes will be stored, the house will be gone and our home on wheels will be driving away. It’s pretty urgent right now.
But more importantly, I don’t want to wait on the issues of the heart and soul. The clock is ticking on those too. The urgency of spiritual matters far exceeds the temporal.
I have precious years with my kids and I want to make them count with the things of eternity. So now is a good time to remove the clutter of my soul. Purge the shallow things hiding the things of deepest value. Let the Lord work and show me what he wants to use for his glory.
My moments on this earth are numbered. I don’t want to waste them.
