January 5, 2011

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ

(Philippians 2:8).

Today I started the process of thinning. Not my body but my possessions. In reality, very little needs to be kept. My recycle bin is getting thicker while my file cabinets look like they’ve been on a crash diet.

I’m reminded that we can’t take these things with us, so what’s the point in holding on? Yet, as I touch certain items, I sense a memory attached to each and every sheet of paper. Writing conferences that encouraged me, inspirational thoughts, and most of all, copies of my vanities, my works, published and maybe someday published.

What criteria do I use to make such a decision as to what to toss and what to keep? My eyes well with the reality that from henceforth, I’ll need to live a Spartan existence, keeping only my lance and bow nearby…that which is purely a necessity rather than a want. While there is a weight through the process, there is a lightening when I finally cast the truly unnecessary aside.

I wonder how much of my soul I’ve cluttered through the years, catalogues of unnecessary thought and design, buried in dogma that holds no purpose. So as I purge my worldly goods, I pray that God will purge my soul as well, casting my life solely at the foot of the cross. Christ crucified, risen and alive, living in me and nothing else.