Downsizing: Saying Goodbye to . . .

Meditation
Proverbs 3:9—Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest.  
 
I had a novel thought this morning concerning Proverbs 3:9.  One of the ways that I honor God with my possessions (beyond tithing) is giving them away!  As Kathleen and I pack up our belongings for our move to Colorado Springs, we are realizing that we don’t need to take a lot of stuff.  

Possessions require attention and energy and at some point, both may be wasted.  For example, why do I need to move boxes of books that I have already read (or will never read)?  Why do we need two-hole punchers when one is sufficient?  Downsizing can become an expression of worship.  Rather than fix our eyes on holding things we need to widen them towards releasing them.  

​During a time of great pain, the Lord through generous hearts at Southwest Hills Baptist Church called us out of California. He led us to Tigard and gave us twenty-three treasured years in Oregon.  
            Now the time has come for saying goodbye to:
            possessions that would better serve others
            neighbors as we wonder who we will live beside next   
            friends in one place to renew friendships and make friends in another place 
            familiar sights, feelings, sounds and fragrances 
            a home which has been a school, a shelter, a sanctuary, a place of fellowship
            a studio recording singing, crying, laughing, cheering, debating and silence
            trees that hosted squirrels, crows, robins, blue jays, sparrows, and hawks
            flowers that fed hummingbirds, bumblebees, honeybees and butterflies
            a yard that hosted spiders, worms, slugs, beetles, fleas, raccoons, skunks, four dogs, four cats, two rats, a rabbit, a turtle and singing frogs and crickets, family who will soon be further away (the hardest part) to embrace family who are waiting our arrival

From a northwest harvest we look forward to a rocky mountain yield.  Saying goodbye is not easy but it is a great reminder of the truth that this is just a momentary journey towards our eternal home with our awesome Father—something to think about . . . in reveration.
 
Inspiration 
Blessed are those, then, who hold their earthly possessions in open palms.  Blessed are those who, if everything they own were taken from them, would be, at most, inconvenienced, because their true wealth is elsewhere.  Blessed are those who are totally dependent upon Jesus for their joy.—Max Lucado in The Applause of Heaven
 
©2014 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)