Letting Go

Have you ever noticed that cleaning one space can lead to cleaning lots of other spaces? Has that ever happened to you? For the past eight days I’ve been decluttering my house and it all started with one little, hall closet.

Before my kids were born I was good at parting with things. I wasn’t overly sentimental and easily kept my house neat and uncluttered. Now, with two daughters grown up it seems everything carries precious memories and as a result our closets, drawers, cabinets, and countertops have become cluttered.

I have a drawer filled with origami animals and another filled with tiny get-well-soon notes written by one of my daughters to a doll named Patrick.

I kept my youngest daughter’s 7th grade science notebook because she took wonderfully thorough notes and drew illustrations on every page.

I have my oldest daughter’s 9th grade math test because she got every problem correct, even the bonus problems.

I kept the spoon I accidentally brought home from the cafeteria at Dauphin Island Sea Lab when I chaperoned for a field trip. It’s my favorite spoon.

I have a curled up post-it-note in my art studio that was given to me by a student whose class I visited once. He drew a mushroom on it. I didn’t throw it away because I remember that student’s face and he matters to me.

As I sort through each item in closets, drawers, and cabinets, memories wash over me. Some make me smile and others are the heavy kind. There’s something wonderful about all of it. It’s good to remember happy and sad things and then to trust God with yesterday, today, and tomorrow, knowing He’s always been, and always will be faithful. He holds my days and my years so I don’t have to hold on to everything so tightly. I can part with a lot of things, knowing that He holds everything.

It’s become clear to me that this de-cluttering I’ve gotten into is going to take a lot more than eight days. I’m giving myself a month. After that I’ll begin my biggest book project yet. I’ll tell you more about it next week!

I’m not tossing everything, by the way. The get-well-soon notes to Patrick are staying and the cafeteria spoon from Dauphin Island Sea Lab is still my favorite, but the progress is significant.

Blessings to you this week as you let go of whatever you’ve been holding too tightly.

~Amy