This is just about enough to send me into a panic attack. Truly. And behind those boxes are two big laundry baskets full of assorted toys. The thought of cleaning it all up intimidates me! So, how can I expect my five year old to jump in and take care of all this?
Lately, we’ve been struggling to get the toys cleaned up each day. He doesn’t want to clean and makes it known. Last week, I decided it is time to reduce the number of toys in his room to a manageable number. I’m so tired of the fight and stepping on toy tractors when I go in to check on the boys at night. I finally found time to sort toys and clean the boys’ room. I found most of the toys pushed under the bed. Devious. I suppose all kids try that trick at least once.
So, I’m going to prove a point. It’s not pretty. I took all of his toys. ALL of them. They are now in a pile downstairs (see above picture), waiting for me to sort them and store them somewhere. Now I know how he feels. I do not, Not, NOT want to clean up those toys. I am almost ready to have a temper tantrum over it. But, I suppose I should be the grown up and “suck it up.”
As I look around my house, I am convicted. I find piles of things everywhere. So much stuff! I’ve actually been working to sort, purge and store things for a few months now. I’ve spent so much of the last 8 years pregnant, nursing or planning to move that it has all gotten away from me. I have to make a change. All this stuff is nice, but I’m tired of the mess it makes when it doesn’t have a place to go or when it is something we can’t use anymore.
We are all jaded. Satiated. Our vocabulary lesson for the day… To provide with more than enough, so as to weary or disgust. We are definitely there. We have come to the point where it’s hard to appreciate all that we have. It’s hard to use all that we have. I bet we are not alone.
So we are working to sort things. We are throwing away what is of no use. We are giving away those things that are no longer useful to us. We are looking for ways to store the things we do use. We are working to take care of the blessings we have been given. We are struggling to understand just how blessed we have been. We are fighting to keep it from making us jaded and unappreciative. The Lord has blessed us greatly. We are looking at our “stuff” in a new way, as blessings to us and blessings to share.
Anybody need some “stuff?”
I’d love to hear back from you. How do you keep abundance from making you unappreciative? How do you teach your kiddos to appreciate and care for their toys (when they have soooo much)? How do you teach the lesson of caring for others who have less? Leave me a comment. :)
You know I used to hate the phrase "I'm bored" when I would go into the bedroom and see so many toys! Sometimes kids and adults don't realize how much we have....so thinning it out is always a good idea and I know I am not good at doing it often enough! GOOD LUCK!
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate. A few years ago we had a 3 bedroom house. Due to my educational path we had to sell our house and put the majority of our things in storage (about a two car garage jenga-like filled to the ceiling). When we came back we took some things out but didn't have room for everything (we moved into a 1 bedroom apartment) so we left the remainder there. As the months and years ticked on we became more and more reluctant to face it even though it was costing us a lot of money to keep those things there. Then one day we met a couple who had essentially gotten rid of all their possessions that did not fit on the houseboat they just purchased. Their story inspired us to face our fears and do the thing that we hated most. It took us 4 months but when we were done we had some great times going through our stuff and a bit more money in our pockets (both selling things and no more storage bills). We only have 3 closets in our place now and feel much happier for being a bit lighter. Great job doing the brave thing!
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