Paring Down Again and Again and Again

339. Paring Down Again and Again and Again

I think it’s strange that I pare down my possessions over and over again and then in not too long a time I have to repeat the process, because I accumulate. I’m down to three rooms that are an addition to a house and so there is a limit to what will fit. However, there is a barn with endless room for storage, and it is too easy to think of something as a keepsake and put it in the barn in a plastic bin so the mice don’t find it. I was thinking this week that perhaps this summer or fall I need to go through those plastic bins and see if everything there is truly a keepsake.

—

God of plenty—

Help me keep “things” in proportion

to what is important in my “life,”

Guide me in shaving down the overage

that surrounds me.

—

Give me world perspective to see and feel

realities of others in far places.

And when the wanting nibbles at my self,

nudge me into waiting just a while

before acting on the want.

—

Inspire me to give and feel the joy

that comes from giving itself

and prompts even more giving.

—

So much to ask –

but then I have much,

and in the having

I need your help in whittling.

Amen.