More than twenty years ago when our younger daughter moved out, I turned her eight by twelve bedroom into a home office. It had two desks; one for the desktop computer and one to write and work at. There was a four drawer file cabinet, a bookshelf, and more. It was like a senior executive’s office, where I could receive visitors who could sit across from me at my desk. Naturally, all the file drawers filled up, all the shelf and wall space was occupied with books and mementos. A few years ago I did a big purge, getting rid of one desk, the credenza and several file drawers worth of stuff. We moved in a sleeper sofa that was too big for the room.

It was still too much. For the past two weeks, I’ve been ruthlessly purging files, old memories that I never look at, award plaques that commemorate achievements no one else can appreciate, a drawer full of mismatched cables for computers I no longer own, and a big old printer with more capabilities than I need. We moved the sleeper sofa to the living room, moved my wife’s old recliner into the office/guest room, donated the old sofa and file cabinet to Habitat Restore, and cleaned out the closet.

What’s hard about this is letting go of things I thought I valued. Oh, I kept some of the old letters and writings that I hope my children will read before they toss them. And I kept property and tax records they might need. They might learn that in my three-year Army tour, I was paid a little over three thousand dollars; and in our first year of marriage, Marleen and I made a little less than seven thousand dollars.

As I looked over each item before I threw it away, I asked myself, “Is this worth taking up space in my life?” And, “Will anyone care about this thing when I’m gone”. If the answer was no, I let it go. These “treasures” will have no meaning in eternity.

Matthew 6:19-21 (ESV) “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

We now have less stuff and less clutter, and we have obtained more space and more comfort. What remains is a quiet, comfortable place for me to read and pray, to pay bills and write, and for a daughter or grandchild to sleep when they visit. It was worth the effort, and a blessing in the perspective it gave to me.