Kim Wilbanks

It’s that time again—time to go through my “treasures” and purge. I’ve done it before, several times. Hopefully, I won’t have to do it much more.

I made it a goal at the beginning of the year to go through my entire house, and I got off to a good start. I even spent a weekend sorting all the doll clothes and accessories and matched them to the correct American Girl doll. Travel derailed my progress, but I’m back on it with fervor. I even hired some professional help. 

I have a new purpose for this purging—a move.

We are heading north, chasing grandchildren. That means we need to let go of some things that are unnecessary or will not fit in a new place. We don’t want to pay to transport things we will not use.

But why is it so hard? Although I know it’s just stuff that someone will throw away one day, my heart has trouble letting go. My head knows I will do my kids a huge favor, but my heart feels like letting go of the things is letting go of memories. Except for the gift boxes and shopping bags. No one needs the amount I just got rid of.

• I know the pink and green porcelain vases from Florence won’t fit, but I grew up admiring them on my grandmother’s mantel.
• I know the French Provencal desk is impractical, but I remember watching my mom work on her lesson plans at that desk.
• I know the papers and artwork add to the clutter, but they’re the product of my offspring’s imaginations.
• I know there isn’t enough wall space for all the travel souvenirs, but each picture, each print brings to mind a fond memory.
• I know there are things I have never used in my forty-one years of marriage, but someone was kind enough to give us a gift for our wedding. 

It’s time for a shift in thinking. So many things are attached to memories, but the memories are so much more important than the things. The people represented by the memories are what’s important.

Things I take with me to a new place are not important. The relationships I will build with my grandsons are what count. Times of fellowship with my grown kids (all four of them) are what is important. The light I can shine in a new place is what will last.

Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

May I be a woman who stores her treasures in heaven and holds earthly treasures in a very loose grip.

How about you? Have you had to purge lately? Do you have trouble letting go of things? Do you have any advice for someone who does? I’d love to know.