Stripped Clean

Stripped Clean is the name of the study we are doing in youth group right now. It is a pretty cool book for teens, very interactive (we got to burn stuff) available from group.com. Anyway, it is about getting rid of all the stuff that keeps us from the cross. 

 I have a lot of stuff. You know what I realized this weekend: I am addicted to stuff. Other words for addicted: absorbed, attached, dependent, devoted, disposed, fanatic, given over to, habituated, obsessed. Wow, stuff is not the thing that I want to be dependent on, obsessed with, or given over to. But you know when they show you cautionary tales as a kid of what will happen if you make a certain choice? I saw my cautionary tale this weekend and I am determined to not let that be me. The tale you ask? My dad. We are moving in the next few weeks and because I am my father's daughter I start taking over because lets face it- out of everyone in my family who is more qualified to plan and run this move than me? I have moved every year for the last 7 years...sometimes twice a year, and that last one went like clockwork! (Trust me I have references)

Anyway, so I start planning where we will put garage sale stuff, when me and my mom will move the kitchen, and what we are getting rid of. WHAT!?! GET RID OF STUFF!?! Milka-Wha? (that was for you Kim) My mom in now on the "urge to purge" train but my dad is NOT. Why would we get rid of our older rocking chair that no one uses and we have no place for since our new rocking chair is going to the new house?? Why would we sell a floor to ceiling wine shelf that came with the house when we do not drink wine and have a new wine cooler going in?? Not take the bookcase! Even though we have a full wall of built in book shelves we can't leave that!! This last one is where he completely SHUT DOWN and stopped talking after my brother and I repeatedly pointed out how pointless it was to keep. It was like a scene from television where I thought to myself "how could anyone really act like this!?" Could I have been nicer and backed off at their first resistance last week- yes. But also I think this situation needs some tough love. We as a family have a huge problem. It would only take one closed storage facility to get our own Hoarders two hour special.

I do NOT want to be like this. Unable to function when my stuff, useless and unnecessary, is threatened. I do not want to over value my things, so that I can only part with them for the price I paid. Instead I want to see any money I can get from the things I am purging as an added bonus. I do not want to be a constant accumulator with stashes of stuff everywhere. I want to have what I need, and a few other indulgences and that is all. I also do not want the stuff I do end up keeping in the move to be in control of me, but rather me in control of it- gladly willing to part with it when I need to. 

Living in an environment where I am constantly the odd one out, the weirdo, and the crazy one has been difficult, but seeing what has taken place these last few months has only made it easier to swim up stream. I am so much better than I used to be, but I have a long way to go before I am stripped clean...down to just me and the cross.

 ***I cannot explain why this post is in all caps, or a different font...I have tried to fix it like 30 times.***