Although it's a theme I have worked on since retirement, I'm ready to put even more effort into downsizing at this stage of life. Letting go gives me a sense of freedom. My photos are now all scanned, I intend to eliminate the box of my writings onto my website over time, I have reduced those Christmas decorations that I once loved to collect, I need to shrink the contents of my closet now that I'm not working full time, and I need to get rid of more "stuff!"
In Luke 12, Jesus teaches us that "life does not consist in an abundance of possessions" (Luke 12:15). He goes on to share the parable of the rich fool who had a good harvest. The man tore down his barns and made bigger ones to store his surplus so that he could take life easy for a few years, only to be told by God he would die that very night.
My daughter, Jonnie, is the epitome of living a life of simplicity. She and her husband lived in a one bedroom efficiency apartment in South Korea for several years. Now they live with us temporarily, and I'm getting a closer look at the beauty of a simple life. Fewer clothes, less space, less furniture, less technology, even less activities, commitments, and obligations...it really makes a lot of sense as we try to stay focused on what is truly important.
Why is it that we get so attached to so much stuff? For me, I think it's often because the "stuff" is attached to memories. For example, I remember shedding tears when we had to get rid of our old VW Vanagon. It held precious memories of family trips with our children. I also tend to hang on to things "someone might want or need someday," but why not get rid of things now and let someone use them right away?
There is nothing wrong with accumulating what we need and even a bit more, but "over accumulation" or holding too tightly to our possessions can be a distraction to what's really important. The bottom line is found in Matthew 6:19-21; we should not store up treasures on earth where moths and rust destroy or where thieves break in and steal, rather we should store up treasures in heaven...."For where your treasure is there your heart will be also". The need is to focus on what's important and who's important.
A final thought comes from one of my wise friends, Lezlee, who has observed that we spend the first half of our life accumulating and the last half shedding. We accumulate our education, a spouse, kids, a house and all its furnishings, our career, our savings account, and so on. Later in life we shed everything -- our children as they start their own lives, our careers and positions when we retire, our parents and other loved ones as they pass on to the next life, and many of our possessions, along with much of our living space, as we downsize in later years. Eventually we even shed our physical strength, our mobility, and our memory...all that we have accumulated for decades. In John 3:30, John explains to his followers that "He (Jesus) must become greater; I must become less." As Lezlee so aptly puts it, "At the end, won't death be so much easier to face if along the way we have decreased and Christ has increased...so that all we have to surrender at death's door is a frail body?"