It has been a joy these past few months, parring down life to only the essentials packing them in a few suitcases and moving halfway across the globe. Now we are in a place where we have been before. We are selling, tossing, and giving things away to once again pare down to the essentials. In a week and a half we will pack those items that remain into 2 suitcases and a carry on for each person and fly home to Alabama.

Today I was cleaning out the small fridge in our home here in Durham. As I was cleaning it occurred to me that even though this is a little fridge and only three small freezer shelves it has been more than adequate for our family of four. Even as small as the fridge is I find things that have been pushed to the back and gone bad. I find that same thing to be true of purses that I carry. I only buy small purses now because if I have a large purse I will fill up the purse with more junk. The smaller the purse the less stuff I can put in it.

Sometimes we fill empty places in our lives with “stuff”. We pack in more and more to our already busy lives. Our small purse of life gets crammed full so we buy a bigger purse and keep filling the empty spaces with more “stuff”.

This year has taught me a great deal about all the extra “stuff” in my life. I have learned how liberating it is to be free of it. We have enjoyed simple pleasures like walking everywhere together as a family and exploring new paths and meeting new people.

We don’t need bigger purses to fill with more “stuff”. We need to make use of the things that God has gifted us with. Not let those times, people and things get pushed to the bottom of our busy lives and big purses.

“Take delight in The Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

Cheers, ,
Beth