We have so much stuff

We are packing for a move and I found myself asking one question: where did all this stuff come from?

I look at all the boxes we've already filled - and I'm not finished yet - and wonder how we possibly accumulated all of this. It's not like we've been collecting antiques. I don't consider myself particularly sentimental or attached to things. And yet, somehow, we've got so much stuff.

Moving has a funny way of exposing this. When everything is sitting in its designated place, I don't really notice how much I have. Especially if it's in storage. It baffles me how much storage space we want, only to store it with stuff that we eventually forget we even own.

It made me think about how easily accumulation happens. I never intentionally decide to acquire a ridiculous amount of stuff. It usually happens one thing at a time. A purchase here. Something I was given there. A hobby I tried. A book I wanted to read (I have to confess, books are my guilty pleasure!). All these happen, one at a time, until before I know it, I've got a whole heap of stuff.

I think life can be like that too.

Not just with physical possessions, but with commitments, expectations, habits, responsibilities, and even ideas about who we think we need to be. One thing doesn't seem like much. But hundreds of little things eventually become a very full life.

I've been writing lately about the value of space and margin, so perhaps packing and moving is giving me a very literal picture of what that looks like. Space doesn't just happen - I have to choose to create and keep it.

Perhaps that's one of the gifts of moving. It forces me to take inventory, to take a good look at all the stuff I have, and to intentionally decide what is worth keeping and what is best for me to let go.

It's not my goal to be minimalistic. But I do want to be intentional about what I keep.

Now excuse me while I go pack the next box, and reflect on what things I want to keep/leave behind in life as well.