ONE SURE SIGN OF HEAVEN: THERE WON'T BE ANY STUFF

I open up a drawer and think, “Gads.  I’ve not gone through this drawer in months.  I should probably get rid of half of this stuff.”

I open up a closet and think, “What am I doing with some of the stuff?  I haven’t touched it in forever.”

So one of my lenten resolves was this: To give something away every day for lent.

Here is the problem: It turns out that I am having a blast doing it.  In fact, I am about a week ahead of schedule.  

The last time I had to do this was when my parents died.  My sisters and I did not know what to do with all of their stuff.  (There was a lot of just plain STUFF.)  So we got a little creative.  I took a bunch of plates to a friend’s house who had a matching set and slowly started adding plates and other pieces they did not formerly own to their cupboards. 

It’s fun to go to yard sales and leave things.

It’s amazing how much stuff you can get rid of by putting nicknacks on display shelves in restaurants.

We put a bowling ball in the trunk of their neighbor’s car.  That might have been a mistake.

We put a pair of cowboy boots in a cousin’s car.  They took them out and left them on the devil strip (tree lawn) and it attracted the entire neighborhood to come stand around the boots trying to figure out from where they came and if the owners would return to pick them up.  (No.)

But that’s not what I am doing for lent.  Goodwill, family, and friends are just occasionally receiving gifts of things (I think) that actually want and like.  I was NOT looking forward to doing it but now every day I look around wondering what who and what will be the next victim of my lenten resolve to declutter my life.

So now I wonder, is it still a lenten practice if it is enjoyed?  As C. S. Lewis once said, “Duty is none-the-less for being pleasure.”