Last weekend I wrote a blog post about cutting the grass, this weekend my subject is clearing the garage! It has been one of those things that has been getting me down for a while, and is something that definitely needed doing before I move this summer. On my last home move which was full of personal hurt and angst and other traumas a lot of junk came too. Quite simply there was not time to clear out the junk, and nor was I in the right frame of mind, or able to do so.

Today however, spurred on by the sunshine, and the sending of removal quotes to my new Circuit, and cheered on by Facebook friends I turned my attention to the Garage. As I say it had been getting me down, just looking in there I would fill be with dread that this task was going to be too much for me. It wasn’t! It really wasn’t, just as I have taken responsibility for many things I might have said I could not do in the past, I decided that I was not going to be beaten by junk, and I was certainly not going to take it with me!

I am amazed by our human capacity to hoard rubbish, there was a fair amount of random bits of wood that had been cared from place to place just in case! Just in case what I am now wondering, just in case there was a national shortage of wood? The same went for old broken buckets and broken plant pots, 4 punctured footballs, a set of broken panniers ( bags for bikes)… the list goes on.

Enough to say it has all gone, along with the off-cuts of flooring from the refurbishment of the Manse bathroom, again, just in case, but they weren’t big enough to do anything with! I have uncovered a few treasures and some will be offered to family members, and if they are unwanted they will go to Charity Shops. I have not used them for the 4 years I have been here so they are going.

My next project will be the garden sheds, and a few bits and pieces that are stored around a hidden corner in the garden, but none of those things seem daunting now because I have cleared the garage! Earlier in the year I was feeling that way about the loft, and that was cleared with the help of my eldest son and youngest daughter. So bit by bit, and slowly but surely I am  sorting through a crazy array of possessions and simplifying my life.

Todays clearing has made me decide to have another sort out of things like books, and my wardrobe, and even the kitchen. I had done this earlier in the year but now everywhere I look I seem to see things that I don’t use, so I am applying a rule, if I have not used/ worn/looked at it in the last 18 months then it is not coming with me!

All of this clearing has a personal spin-off to it, I am looking at my propensity to surround myself with things, I have a tendency to over buy groceries and other household goods, but the clearing has got me into the habit of writing lists, of making sure that I stop this habit. It has also had an effect on my book buying, and what I do with those books once read. I will not buy a book if I have a book in the queue to read, I have steeled myself to ignore the just released, or pre-release offers that pop up on emails all the time, AND more significantly if I am unlikely to read it again I pass it on or offer it for resale.

Finally, the other big just in case hoarding habit that plagues me is my wardrobe, and here I have been, and will again be fierce with myself! I have some things in my wardrobe that I have not worn since arriving here, so they are going. I will repeat that for myself THEY ARE GOING!!!

My desire is to live more freely and simply, not to be owned by my posessions, not concerned over them. We live in a world that is very pressured, a designer driven, fashion concerned culture here in the West that constantly tells us that we do not have enough, and that what we have is not good enough. I meet so many people who measure themselves and their success by what they have, they might not want to but they do, and it plays havoc with their sense of worth, and their ability to hear that God loves them.

We sorely need people, and I want to be one of them, who live counter-culturally; and yes I realise that this is a middle class western privilege, but if I can by making simple changes to my life free my self up to live generously then I want to do that!

So on with the clearing, but not clearing for clearings sake, and certainly not so I can make room for more stuff. My desire is that I will become more aware, through a life of simplicity, of the move and murmur of the Holy Spirit, calling me into the eternal dance where I can learn in a fuller way to learn what it is to live in fullness of life.

^{Matthew 19-21} “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.