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 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” - Mark 10:21  

When the staff was planning the “Declutter” theme, Ruth Ann shared a story with us about stuff.  Thelma, a longtime friend and roommate of Ruth Ann’s, was talking about needing to go through all her stuff in the presence of her Polish caretaker Ewa (pronounced Eva) to whom English was a second language.  Thelma kept using the word “stuff” referring to her need to sort through and get rid of all her stuff, when a frustrated Ewa took Ruth Ann aside to ask her, “Thelma keeps talking about this ‘stuff.’  What is stuff?”   

Eva couldn’t figure out what Thelma meant by the word.  It’s easy to see why the term might confuse a person to whom English is a second language; it’s so vague, it could mean almost anything! And in fact, it does! Maybe our need for the word points to the fact that we have so many things in our lives that we require a term that captures the broadness of it all.   

STUFF, it clutters up our homes - our drawers, our closets and our garages are filled with so much stuff that it can make you feel like you’re up to your eyeballs in it all.  Maybe that has something to do with why Jesus wants the rich man to get rid of his “stuff”.  Maybe the rich man has too many things to see God and his neighbor clearly. 

Of course, stuff doesn’t just clutter our homes, but can also clutter up our hearts too.  We get attached to our possessions and guard them jealously.  We hang on to them long after we have any need of them.  We buy bigger houses with bigger garages to house it all.  We even have separate storage lockers that we rent so we can find places to keep it.  

Jesus tells his disciples that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.  Maybe that’s because too often we hang on to our stuff so tightly that we couldn’t possibly fit through the door … unless we let it go.   

This week, consider letting go of some things.  Find a place you can donate the items to.  Free up space – not only in your closets, but in your hearts as well.  

After all, it’s only stuff.