Having Without Using

Hoarding. Even the word makes me sick. Why is it so easy to accumulate stuff? I’m not sure why spring gets all the credit for cleaning. In our house, summer is the season where deep cleaning happens.

Our family has just finished the painstaking process of organizing and purging everyone’s bedrooms. The kids’ clothes that won’t fit them by the fall get removed to make room for next year’s clothes. Closets and shelves that are bursting at the seams are sorted into three piles. Keep. Donate. Trash.

When I was still in the process of determining whether writing a blog was something I wanted to take on, I asked a friend what blogs she read. She gave me a list of blogs that she liked, but she also gave me a list of some blogs she used to read but no longer does. Her reason for no longer reading one of the blogs was, “her beautiful homemaking pictures makes me feel somewhat inadequate.” I love the honesty of a true friend. I quickly made a mental note. “No perfect pictures!” Today is not going to be that kind of blog.

I am certainly not a minimalist, but there comes a point when I feel my lung capacity is limited by the overcrowding of possessions. I can’t explain it, but I breathe better when I can see space on shelves. There is another benefit to trimming back the excess. Things actually get played with.

After several days of sorting my boys’ room, I hauled all the toys that we would be donating into the hallway. One of the items we were giving away was a Little People house. Miles, who is four, has not played with that toy is well over a year. However, once it was removed from all the chaos of his room, he sat and played with it for several hours. I’m a firm believer that our kids need room to breathe as well.

My daughter Norah is our collector. She has a collection of rocks, shells, bottle caps, stickers, and probably a slew of all sorts of other things I don’t even know about tucked into the crevasses under her bed. She has a window seat in her room that would make the perfect reading nook, except for the fact that it is piled high with all her halfway finished projects. When it came time to clean Norah’s room, her older sister came bounding into the room asking, “Have you showed Mom yet?” To which I replied, “Showed me, what?” Norah sheepishly opened her closet door to reveal a bean bag chair shoved under the clothing rod with a flashlight hanging from the bar. She didn’t have any room to read on her window seat so she had been reading in the closet!

We were all guilty. There wasn’t a person in our house that hadn’t let things pile up. This last year has been filled with writing and teaching projects for me. I knew I was setting things aside, but I just didn’t realize how much. When it came time to deal with my piles, I noticed I never put away the kids’ class pictures from the year before. Now I had two years’ worth of school projects to file and organize. I hadn’t seen the top of my dresser in at least a year!

Several years ago I read the best and simplest definition of hoarding I had ever heard. In Beth Moore’s study on James, she said, “The sin of hoarding is more than just having. It’s having without using.” This definition has helped me immensely as I try to simplify our home.

I don’t want to be guilty of clinging on to something that I’m not even using when someone else might benefit from it. Years ago I worked at a women’s homeless shelter. They took donations of gently worn clothing, and each week the women would get to pick things out from the “clothing store” free of charge. I had a sweater that I hadn’t worn in years. I held on to it for the slim chance that I would want to wear the one and only skirt I had to match it. I decided to donate it to the shelter. That week, one of the shelter guests picked out that sweater. She wore it every single week. She loved that sweater! I felt silly for all the years I had held on to it when it obviously brought such delight to this woman.

I don’t want this to turn into a point of legalism, but for our family, if something hasn’t been used in a year, then it is probably time to let it go. Before we decide to bring more things into our home, we challenge ourselves with what are we willing to give up in return. I don’t want us to get confused as to where our treasure is.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21.

Having without using.

The treasures aren’t a problem in and of themselves. It’s storing them up that’s the problem. This got me thinking. What else do I have that I’m not using? Material possessions aren’t the only things we can hoard. We can also hoard our talents, time, and resources. What is it that you have that you aren’t using? I guarantee you that someone else is in need.

Perhaps the greatest atrocity happens when we hoard God’s Word. There is a reason why Christians are called to “share” the gospel message. As you read through the New Testament, you will notice that the gospel message never stays in one place. Those who hear the good news can’t help but share it with others. In fact, the gospel was “proclaimed.” Webster’s Dictionary defines “proclaim” as “to declare publicly, typically insistently, proudly, or defiantly.” This truth is so exciting it has to be shared.

Three times in Paul’s letters to the churches he said that he had been “entrusted with the gospel” (Galatians 2:7, 1 Thessalonians 2:4, 1 Timothy 1:11).

Entrusted.

That clearly means that the gospel didn’t belong to Paul or any of the other apostles for that matter. Or to me.

Entrusted.

That’s what it really comes down to. Am I taking care of what I have been entrusted with? Can I be trusted with the material possessions, talents, time, resources, or the gospel message that I have been given? Am I storing these gifts up or am I using them to bless others?

Entrusted.