A Time to Purge

Of all the seasons mentioned in the book of Ecclesiastes, "a time to purge" is not stated exactly that way but it is the season I am currently going through.  As I wade through my mountain of stuff (and you can ask the people who helped me move - it is literally a MOUNTAIN!), deciding what to keep and what to give away/sell/throw away, it is definitely a time to purge.  I am living in a much smaller space and what better time to take inventory, as it were.

It has also made me look back to times in my life where I had much less, like my first year of university where every penny had to go to tuition and books, so there was not much spending money.  Or when I was in Panama with YWAM and I lived out of a suitcase and backpack - how did I do that (and how did I sleep on an inflatable pool bed for 2 months)?

As important as this time of purging is for me (because it really is important), it's also emotional as I take some trips down memory lane; as I consider my excess in the light of so much poverty in the world; as I choose to live a little lighter (literally and figuratively).  And even when all the boxes are gone and everything has its place, I will still have a lot of stuff (maybe a hill instead of a mountain) but I hope to make it my aim to live more simply.

"For everything there is a season,

and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up'

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace."

~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8