WHAT TO KEEP & WHAT TO THROW AWAY

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways" (I Corinthians 13:11).

In our house my wife, the lovely and gracious Helen, and I have a bedroom that has served as a storeroom for years. It has been filled with memorabilia and things we "might use some day." Well, with the Christmas holidays approaching and the prospect of adult children and grandchildren filling the house, we need the space in the bedroom for sleeping. So, Helen has been busy for the last several weeks sorting through what to keep and what to throw away. It is an activity that I dare not do because my disposition is to throw a lot away that my wife and my children might want to keep.

So how is it that we know how to differentiate what to keep and what to throw away? It is not an easy question to answer because one person's junk is another person's treasure. Also, life transitions are not easy for some--throwing away a card or a paper is almost like throwing away a memory. Even if they are never accessed we know that they are safely stored in the storeroom somewhere for us to access should the need arise. We lose control of the past if we throw these things away. Incidentally, Helen is an archivist--she is a Creative Memories consultant in case any of you readers are in need of archival products. An orderly archiving of pictures and papers is a wonderful asset to a family's story and it can settle some family disagreements too. Back to the point of the paragraph, there is only so much space in the house, how do you know what to keep and what to throw away?

1. Is it pertinent to current legal, medical, employment and business matters?

2. Is it something that has a possible immediate use? (If it hasn't been used in the last year, probably it will not be used.)

3. Does it give an important insight into the development and disposition of children? By that I mean that important pictures, papers and records need to be kept.

4. All love letters should be kept so that children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren can understand their ancestors. In this digital age, letters written on paper with ink are going to be hard to come by!

5. Does it have material value so that it can be immediately sold or given away with a clear conscience? If "we could sell it on ebay" but never get around to it--throw it away!!!

6. Is it an important part of your spiritual journey?

7. Collections are not important to me--they are dust collectors and take up space. If a collection cannot be displayed or used them let it go.

When I started this post I intended that it be a metaphor for doing the psychological/emotional/spiritual house cleaning that we need to do now and then too. What in our past and in our minds and our hearts needs to be kept and what needs to be thrown away? I will pick it up there tomorrow.

Grace&Peace,
Tom