Pastor: David Morelli
Editor: Dave Haugh
So our friend and newsletter editor is trying to get out of town and move to California. As you have read or will read one of his obstacles is putting everything into a 160 cubic foot trailer.
As he was sharing with us his woes at the men’s lunch we pondered the question, if you were on a desert island what is the one thing you would take with you? I asked my daughter. It was an easy quick answer with no hesitation. My cell phone! Of course, everything a teenager needs is on their phone: Their friends, the news, their games, their photos, basically their whole life is on their phone. And it takes up a lot less space than 160 cubic feet! Hopefully there is a cell phone tower nearby.
Let me reframe the question. What if the house was on fire what would I save? Like Dave, when it comes down to it the only thing of value is family and friends. Everything else can be replaced. I would like to save my books, but it would be hard to get all the books out of the house. I better start downloading them onto my phone!
But this question of moving things out of a house into a 160 cubic foot trailer begs another question. What is all this stuff anyway and where did it come from and what do we really need or want. I have found more people clearing out things they thought were important because they realize their children are going to throw it out anyway after they are gone.
Recently we cleaned out our house and either sold things at a garage sale or gave them away to Love, In the Name of Christ. My motivation came from reading a book about clutter. If you fill your rooms, closets, and shelves to the max then there is no room for the future things that come along in your life.
As I went through the house I realized this was true. Being an historian by nature I always think I have to keep all materials from the past…for research….someday. But then I realized I had no room for my future endeavors and the surprises that might come along.
And then to end on a spiritual note: one needs to de-clutter their mind of the grudges, pain, hurts, memories of losses that loom and be ready to fill the mind with the surprises that God has in store for us through the Holy Spirit. And the good memories Dave said he would take with him will expand as we realize God’s blessings in them.
-Pastor David
Newsletter PDF: Newsletter 09 2013 WEB