Anyone who knows me well, knows I am all about purging. I’m no minimalist (yet), but ever since The Great Purge of a few years ago, I have seen the life-changing value of going through our belongings and decluttering.
In terms of fully decluttering our home, we are nowhere close to that being the case. But we do go through clothes, toys, books, etc. on a somewhat regular basis. One of the major areas where I still have a lot of work to do is “sentimental” items. I have tubs upon tubs upon tubs of “sentimental” storage. There are tubs stacked up in the garage, there are tubs pushed underneath my bed, and there are tubs in probably every single closet in this house. Tubs of stuff that at one point or another was deemed too special to part with. And typically, these tubs of stuff really aren’t in anyone’s way and they are rarely thought of.
That is, until last week when I needed some space.
With all of this social distancing, our own personal worlds have been turned upside down in ways we could not have imagined. We now school at home, we now work at home, and I decided I needed to now pray at home. Yes, I pray all of the time normally, no matter where I am, but I saw the need for somewhere special, somewhere quiet—and that quiet part is the real challenge since my house is now filled with seven people all day every day. So where could one go that is out of the way, that is private, and quiet?
The only solution was to clean out a closet!
I decided on a hallway closet underneath the stairs. The only thing I needed to do was to make room. I pulled out tubs one by one and stacked the them in the hallway. As I lifted and dragged each one, I would peek inside to see its contents as I had no idea what precious cargo had been tucked away otherwise never to be seen. I found a tub of baby blankets, I found a tub of infant clothes, I found a tub of art supplies, I found a tub of….you get the point. There were just tubs and tubs of stuff.
Once the closet was emptied, it didn’t take long to transform this previously lifeless storage space into a little private sanctuary. I brought in a kneeler I had in my bedroom, I brought in a small table from the play room, I brought in a lamp from upstairs. I brought in prayer books that had been sitting, unread, on my nightstand. I brought in some prayer cards that I have collected over the years that were unused sitting in a drawer. And I brought in a box fan that was still in its box in the garage—because let’s face it, I would have to drown out everything happening outside of the closet!
As I found solace in this quiet, cleaned out space, I couldn’t help but think about areas in my life that could use some rearranging as well. Areas in my life that are “cluttered” with stuff just as this closet once was. I thought about the piles of daily distractions keeping me from stillness. I thought about the anxiety stored in my mind keeping me from knowing the quiet. I thought about the hurt tucked away in my heart keeping me from feeling peace. I thought of all of the things that I have carried around that I can now let go.
I keep thinking about the decluttering that can occur to make room…room for other things…things that aren’t things…things that really matter.
So that you know, those tubs are still in the hallway. I can’t think of a single item that I have stored that is in anyway necessary for me to keep. Honestly, unless I have a tub of toilet paper somewhere, I don’t see how any of it is any good!
The truth is, we somehow end up carrying around a lot of unnecessary stuff. We store it in our daily lives, we store it in our homes, we store it in our minds, and we store it in our hearts. I think that we can declutter…and I mean declutter all of it. I think we can gradually unpack the things that are weighing us down and we can get down to the heart of what really matters. The truth is, the more we can let go, the more we will find what it is we have actually been looking for!
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