The Irony of a "Clean Sweep"

Moving, whether across town or to a totally new location miles away, is always a real test on just how much "stuff" to keep. With every move there is a major detoxification that not only is literal but spiritual. Throwing out old boxes of memorabilia like my father's grade school arithmetic (there's a word for ya!) books, Ampex master tapes of Jeff's recording clients (about 30 years worth!) and boxes and boxes of receipts, kitchen stuff, baby things, dated broken toys, cribs,,,,, OH the list is unbearable! And the aching back of carrying this junk up and down the stairs pays the bodily consequence. I wonder why there are so many UNOPENED boxes from our last move back in 1989 from Jersey to Delaware. One box was marked (and I laughed out loud when I saw it), "Open NOW." It has been in my basement crawl space for twenty years. I guess the "NOW' is now - so I opened it! What I found was old kitchen utensils, musty tablecloths, dish towels and spices. That's pretty funny. Did I "miss" those urgent "OPEN NOW" items in the last twenty years? I think NOT! I never knew they existed. BUT when I saw them, I said, "WOW. I could have used them these last several years....". I'm glad that God reveals His word to us in increments of need. Some scriptures and stories of faith are read once maybe in our early years, tucked away in the basement of our brain, but then suddenly a box of awakening opens our eyes and ears when we see it again. OPEN NOW! Be sure to know that not every box I see am I thrilled to open. Some things would be better just loaded on the truck without dissecting. All is pitched and nestled securely at the bottom of the 12th Street dump here in Wilmington. I am a better woman to be rid of the stuff that was hidden for so many years. I'm also thankful though that this stripping, sorting, cleaning and downsizing is just what the doctor ordered for this fifty-something lifestyle! I am free to move on without hesitation or guilt. I'm thinking the moving van will be filled with expectation of what God wants us to do, and not the laurels of what used to be. One thing I had to reluctantly part with was this huge photo of Jeff and I in 1974. It was crumbling in my hands and deteriorating as it was exposed to the air. The fun part of that metaphor is: Jeff and Sue have never been stronger after 34 years - but the "old" us is ready to accept the new challenge! We will reserve the smaller Penske truck....thank the Lord!