On The Twelfth Day Of Christmas: Traveling Light

Growing up, our needs were simple, our possessions few.

The modest two-story country home my parents bought when they moved to Virginia with their eight children was the most spacious we had ever lived in. But like most farm homes built in the early 1900's there were no built-in closets in our bedrooms and only two small storage closets in the entire house. There were hooks on the bedroom walls for some of our clothes, with the rest of our garments having to be folded and stored in dresser drawers. We later did get a few small upright closets to add to our wardrobe space.

Our one toy box was about the size of a bushel basket, and we had fewer than a dozen book shelves in the entire house. The cellar did have ample space to store potatoes and lots of canned fruits and vegetables to help us through the winter.

Fast forwarding to 2018, Alma Jean and I are keenly aware of some of the encumbrances the Bible admonishes us to lay aside in light of the looming finish line. How did we manage to accumulate so much stuff, we ask ourselves, as we plan yet another trek to the landfill or another donation to Gift and Thrift?

And what about our children, and our grandchildren, who like many of today's families, have enough books, clothes and play equipment to stock a small nursery school?

Somehow as we all grew older and became less stressed financially, stuff just kept accumulating. So for us every day becomes a time to consider subtracting from our assets and adding to what we share with those who have less.

Meanwhile, our capacity for joy deepens as we experience more contentment with fewer things that just add more clutter in our lives.

Much love, many prayers.