Pondering the Simple

My basement flooded.

Somehow, water was coming up through the floor and destroyed the carpet. The main room that was flooded was our kids playroom. I was cleaning up wet toys everywhere in order to get to the carpet so I could rip most of it out. As I was taking towys out of the room, I placed them next to a bunch of stuff. It was at this time I noticed my family was not without things.

Things take up space which in turns takes up my time. Think about it. First off, we have to spend time pursuing and researching our things. There are very few times in my life where I make a purchase without first comparing items and reading reviews. After I purchase the item, I have to learn how to use it and discover all of it’s great features. Then, when I am done with the item, I have to make a space for it to rest. This might mean cleaning a room or a shelf in order to give this item a place to lay dormant. Finally, there comes a day when I have to remove the item from my house because either it is broken, or I have decided not to use it anymore. This comes after I have moved it from place to place a thousand times because it is “in the way.” This means, instead of doing the things I enjoy to do or I am called to do, I am rearranging stuff.

Not only does our “stuff” clutter our lives, we let events clutter our lives. One thing I learned early on in life was to learn to tell people the word “no.” All too often we let ourselves get sucked into doing things we either have no business doing, or that extend us beyond our reasonable commitments. We often lose out on doing what we ought to be doing because we are too busy doing what we have no right to be doing.

I am hoping to set some priorities over the next couple of months and getting rid of clutter; both in terms of things and in terms of time. Please do not be offended if I tell you “no” or if I try and pawn some of my junk off on to you

-Don-