“A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away” Ecclesiastes 3:6 ESV

As I unpacked boxes, I couldn’t believe how much stuff I had. Where did I store it in my condo? And why did I even have it in the first place? And why did I buy things when I lived with my parents, only to stash them in my storage unit?

I unpacked:

• 3 white pitchers (once I had company and didn’t have any pitchers, so I may or may not have had a reactionary response to that gathering)
• 35 mugs (not including the mugs I have at work, and not mugs I received as gifts from students)
• 10 pairs of boots (my only defense is that I used to have space for a shoe closet),
• and 10 bathrobes (Mom, that’s your fault – I’ve been conditioned to have multiple robes for each season).

---

Out with the old, only in with some new

I am proud of myself because after a few years of saving furniture and accessories for the new house I would have someday (I could have furnished a studio apartment with the stuff stored in my old basement), I am getting rid of things. I got rid of 16 mugs (but not my red Saturday morning mug, because some things are meant to remain with me forever – I may have a problem with an emotional attachment to mugs). AND I donated 3 pairs of boots (and I definitely have an emotional attachment to boots), but some of them made my feet cry out, so I bagged them up after a short mourning period.

I noticed myself feeling off while I was unpacking. I figured I was tired and overwhelmed, but then I realized something: I was unpacking my old self. I started packing and putting things in storage in March of 2023, and I emptied 2 storage units in August of 2024. I’m not the same person I was in March of 2023, so it was strange to unpack things that had been so familiar to me then but were then forgotten until now. I gave myself permission to get rid of things because I didn’t need to try to make a new home just like my former home. I made room for new mugs (an impulse HomeGoods clearance shelf purchase I stuck in storage) as I made room in my new home for who I am now.

---

“A time to keep, and a time to cast away.”

You get the gist of my keeping and casting away, but going through this process with physical items has really made me think about other things in my life that I may need to “cast away” – things that take up my time and energy unnecessarily. I’m leaving an open-ended post for the second week in a row, but that’s because I’m writing in the midst of processing these thoughts. Trust me, there are things I want to cast away but I can’t (or I shouldn’t). But I also want to leave space for God to work – to bring new relationships and new projects into my life, things that are a part of His plan, even if they aren’t already part of mine.

And so I think, reflect, pray, read, and listen. . . join me, won’t you?

What do you need, or want, to cast away?

“A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away” Ecclesiastes 3:6 ESV