By Michelle (Graceful, Faith in the Everyday)
My kids are hoarders. Rocks, shells, SillyBandz, Bendarooz, marbles, spare change -- you name it, if it comes in multiples, they horde it.
This, you should know, drives me insane. I hate clutter, of course. I hate piles of junk and stacks of papers and counters littered with debris. Clutter literally depletes my energy. I can't relax, I can't function, until everything is in its proper place...or in the trash. I am the Queen of the Toss-Out.
An experiment conducted by the confirmation class at my church, however, made me realize that perhaps I'm not immune to hoarding tendencies after all. My pastor suggested the confirmation kids film snippets of their lives that point to excess -- as an example, she filmed her tea collection: tea in the kitchen cupboards, in canisters on the counter, more boxes stashed in drawers. Passionate about tea, Pastor Sara has enough of it in her house to last months.
Her experiment made me wonder: where do my excesses hide?
Turns out, I don't have to look far.
We have eight large bookshelves in our home. This does not include the books piled on a stool in the living room, on our bedside night stands, on the kids' bedroom floors and the cookbooks on the shelf and in the kitchen cupboard.
Need I mention that when we wed my husband Brad and I married our book collections as well? Committing ourselves to a lifelong partnership was easier than culling through our stacks to decide who would be rid of their beloved copies of Pride and Prejudice and To the Lighthouse. Between us we had five copies of Moby Dick -- five copies too many, if you ask me.
One thing I've noticed about the year-long Shop-Not project I've embarked upon is that not shopping for clothes, shoes, purses and accessories has freed up some extra cash. And you know where I'm tempted to spend it? That's right...at the bookstore or on Amazon.
I try to keep my ultimate goal in mind: to sponsor a Compassion child with the money I save from not shopping for a year. It's hard to justify the latest bestseller when you know basic sustenance and shelter are at stake. Still, I succumb to the lure of crisp pages and an uncracked binding far too often.
Turns out, those little boy hoarders didn't fall far from the tree.
Where are your hidden or not-so-hidden areas of excess? Have you ever thought about scaling back?
Michelle is a Christian wife and mother of two originally from Massachusetts now living in Nebraska. She is a part-time writer, editor and fundraiser for Nebraska PBS/NPR. Michelle loves to write about how her family illuminates God's presence in her everyday life, and on finding (and keeping) faith in the everyday. Michelle enjoys reading, running and writing. Be sure to go visit her blog, Graceful, Faith in the Everyday.