The Faith of a Child

As a mom, I question my abilities as a parent on a regular basis. I question the decisions I make, the example I am setting, the station on my radio, the meals that I prepare, etc. I especially worry about what Nick watches on television. Even some of the shows that are meant to be "family friendly" are not good examples of Godly homes. The kids are lying to their parents; the parents are lying to each other, etc., and it is all meant for laughs. Well... I don't think it's funny at all. Even the stuff on the Discovery Channel (Nick's favorite channel) concerns me. There are so many documentaries that express an opinion about where things came from that differ from what we know to be true. Do I not allow Nick to watch the documentaries that facinate him for fear that they may challenge his faith?

I remember a show that aired on The Discovery Channel called "Before the Dinosaurs Roamed the Earth." They were showing the deep ocean a gazzilion years ago. Evidently there were prehistoric fish and sharks with big scary teeth that swallowed up the smaller fish. To escape the terrors of the deep, some of the fish simply walked out of the ocean and evolved into land creatures and then eventually into humans. Knowing Nick's scientific mind, I started to panic. I braced myself for the questions that I just knew would follow. Instead, Nick said, "Who comes up with this stuff? Did some fish just decide to stay in the ocean and remain shark bait?" Then he grabbed the remote control and pulled up the description of the show. He said, "They are calling this a documentary? It looks more like fantasy to me. If we came from fish - why is the ocean still full of them and why can't we survive in the water?"

I was dumbfounded! Perhaps sometimes I need to be less concerned with what I may be teaching Nick and focus on what he may be teaching me. With just a few comments about a television show, Nick showed me that his faith just IS. There were no questions because he knows that he knows that he knows.

Ah... the faith of a child (or a teenager!). Jesus wants us to come to Him with the faith of a child and that's exactly what Nick lived out in front of me. Thank's, Nick, for setting a good example for your mom!

Sweet Blessings,
LeAnn
(Nick's Mom)

Humbled!

OK - after making fun of Ron and his genetic inclination to hoard stuff, God humbled me in a big way this weekend. While I don't hold onto everything I have accumulated over my lifetime (like Ron saved textbooks from elementary school, rocks, etc), I discovered that I definitely have my own "hoarding" tendencies.

I mentioned in my previous post that I would attempt to clean out my attic this past weekend and I had every intention of doing just that. But I decided that I really should start with my drawers, closets and bookshelves. Upon opening my drawers, I was SHOCKED at how much stuff I had accumulated just in the last few years. I feel that it is only fair to show the scary "before" photos since I made such a big deal about others being pack rats. Here are "before" pictures of two drawers in an armoire in my bedroom:





It took me most of the day on Saturday just to clean out these two drawers. They are very large drawers but still...?! I had to sort it into keep, give away, or trash. After I finished the two big drawers I moved on to my bathroom cabinet. I couldn't believe how many hair accessories, old eye-shadows and dried up bottles of nail polish were hiding in there! Then I moved on to my jewelry. I tried to be very honest with myself. Which pieces would I realistically wear? Which ones was I holding onto simply because they were gifts or because I felt guilty giving them away? By the end of the day I had four large garbage bags filled with GARBAGE and several piles and bags of give-aways. Here are the "after" photos of the two armoire drawers:





After church on Sunday I decided to tackle the book shelves. I have hundreds of books. I had four overflowing bookshelves. I couldn't even fit all the books on the shelves so I had started piling them on the floor beside the shelves. I had piles all over the place! In another month or two I could probably use them to build another small house! Again, I had to think realistically. Would I really read all of these books one day? How many of them had I already read? Did I really think I would read them again when I had so many unread books? Could someone else benefit from them?

By the end of the day on Sunday, I had sorted through the four bookshelves and the many piles of extra books. I ended up giving away or donating over half of them. And, I will be donating two of the bookshelves so that I am not tempted to hoard books again!

Now that I have simplified (my friend Karen Ehman, the "Keep it Simple" lady, would be so proud of me), I will be more aware of every item I bring into my house. How much "stuff" do we really need? Could someone else use an item that I would only throw in a drawer? Which items do I hold onto for sentimental reasons and which out of guilt? Starting today - I am turning over a new, "keep it simple," leaf.

If you aren't busy cleaning out the clutter in your home and could use a laugh, you simply MUST watch Karen Ehman's hat skit. You won't be sorry! Just click here: Hat Skit on YouTube

Letting Go

One night last week as I was flipping through channels on the television, a program really caught my attention and I couldn't pull myself away from it. The show was called "Clean House" and they were showing a special episode called "The Messiest House in America." I don't think I have ever seen a home with more clutter. I was mesmerized by the sight of it. Every room of the house was so filled with stuff that the couple couldn't walk through any of the rooms. There was no floor space, no space on any piece of furniture to sit on, no counter space in the kitchen, etc. Of course, with that much clutter, they couldn't clean anything either so everything was filthy. I sat there for two hours as they cleaned out all the clutter, sold most of it in a yard sale, and then completely redecorated the home so that it was actually a home! At the end of two hours the wife was in tears. The house was beautiful. I wondered to myself how long it would last. I mean... once a pack rat....?

Since I happened upon the show last week, I have discovered that it comes on regularly and I have watched a few more episodes. Each one features a different family of pack rats. Part of the show involves sitting down with the family and trying to figure out what drives them to hold onto EVERYTHING. Then the crew tries to convince them to part with certain items. Most of the stuff truly is junk and needs to be sold in a yard sale, donated to an organization that can use it, or tossed. However, some of the items are family heirlooms. At first I was kind of upset that the crew would try to convince the family to part with family heirlooms, even if they had just been collecting dust for over a decade. But now I'm starting to think differently.

After seeing a few episodes of Clean House, I am discovering all sorts of things in my house that I simply do not need or am not using. Some of these things I have held on to for "sentimental" reasons. For example, I have some Disney and Warner Bros. prints that Ron and I had "collected." They meant something to us and so I have held onto them even though they are no longer my taste. They have been sitting in my attic for several years now. I have lots of things that fall into this category. Do I really think I will ever use them? What is the point of holding onto "stuff" if you aren't going to enjoy them?

This weekend I am going to Clean House! I am going to take another look at all the stuff that I have accumulated and really think about whether or not I will ever use them. I will hold onto some things for Nick that belonged to his dad so that Nick can have them and then pass them along to his own children one day. But they will be items that actually meant something to Ron - not items that he just liked for a short time like prints for the walls! I will be giving everything else to Turning Point so that people that can actually use the items - people that actually NEED the items - will have them. I think it will be far more honoring of Ron's memory to have things used instead of just collecting dust.

(For more of Letting Go, visit A Widow's Might, where I have written more about letting go of "sentimental" items.)