What Needs to Go?

I’m standing in my daughter’s room, and we touch every item and decide whether we need it anymore.

We are making space.  Saturday cleaning day means deep cleaning for Spring.  We pile up books we never read, clothes we never wear, and toys we don’t use into one big heap to donate.   Afterward, the room seems to open up into this beautiful expanse.  The older daughter can actually turn cartwheels all around the room with that kind of space.

With space like this, the girls create and imagine.  I can’t get them to leave that room.

We release objects from our grasp.  We let things go to make room, not just for more stuff, but for an emptiness we need in order to thrive.  For example, I learn that most folks only wear 1/3 of their wardrobe on a regular basis.   It’s true.  My youngest has four or five outfits that she wants to wear over and over again.  She chooses between those alone.  The rest?  We donate.

Her choices are now clearer and her decisions less stressful.  She thrives with less.

I look at my life today and think about reducing down to the important 1/3 of it.   What about this clutter in my mind?  All the worries, all the stress?

I wonder if 1/3 of what I think about actually matters for eternity.

I want spacious places.  When I get to those places in my heart and in my home, I barricade my life against the onslaught of more that we seem to suck in, like a vortex, as soon as space clears. 

1.  Find the 1/3 that matters.
2.  Give away the rest.
3.  Keep the spacious places open. 

That’s how I’m living with flair on this Saturday Cleaning Day. 

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Journal:  What needs to go?

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  2. Today, I decided to sell my piano. I never play it, the dogs are starting to pee on the wood which is still fine but won't be for long and let's face it, a musician was a dream of junior high.
    Space – the final frontier – in all aspects :). Lovely entry – for me, the 1/3 is more manageable at this point than 100 Things; I don't want to discard uniforms I can still wear just to get down to a number. I will put some in a back closet and rotate till they wear out.

  5. My word verification for this comment is “thrown” maybe some of my stuff (and the kids toys) maybe 1/3 of it atleast needs to be thrown—

    GREAT word!

  6. Thank you for this entry. I finally took time to read your blog today– a dear friend of yours (and mine) recommended it, and now I see why.

    I so needed to read this– it speaks to a much repeated question I often ask God– “How do I do all the things I want to… feel called to?” A major “cleaning” is in order for me– both externally and internally…

    One of my favorite verses from the Psalms is; “And He set me in a large place…”(a spacious place). (118:5)

    How I would love for that “expanse” you describe to open in my home, spirit, and heart.

    bless you