Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children – and with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

(Ps 103 1-5&13-18)

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

(Matt 6.19-21)

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

(1 Tim 6.17-19)

In the last few years, I have moved house twice, and also been involved in clearing out houses belonging to other people. It is a sobering experience to be faced with the quantities of stuff which human beings can accumulate, and the result for me has been a strong desire to reduce my personal quota of earthly treasures, and thus the burden which will fall on someone else when I am gone! As a believer in Jesus, one whose life is already established in the kingdom of God, I have full confidence that I can lack nothing which I need. I also know that I will take nothing with me into glory! How then, will I choose to live in the meantime? What is my attitude to the belongings which I cart about the world with me?

I want to live with open hands, in full and regular acknowledgment that it is from God alone that my security and comfort comes, not from my things. I want to recognise and give thanks for the gifts which I receive from God through the kindness of others, and their care for me.

I am not preaching some severe message of austerity, nor even of total minimalism, just wanting to explore what it means for me to live lightly, gratefully, and expectantly, not continually dragged back into the past or weighed down by possessions and the burdens they present. I think it was the late Mahatma Ghandi who encouraged people to “Live simply so that others may simply live”, and that idea – taken together with William Morris’ dictum, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful”, creates a useful base for me as I sort through cupboards, boxes and the forgotten heaps lurking in corners.

Missionary folk who have to move house, across continents, regularly, have learnt this lesson, and know that they can let go of possessions, even precious ones, and yet know joy and peace, and thankfulness! I don’t want to be afraid of letting things go in the future, so I need to practise doing it now.

I have found that the hardest things to dispose of are the personal ones – the birthday cards, the scrawled childhood drawings, the photographs…. They remind me of times and people, which is a good thing; but that doesn’t mean I need to keep them! I am particularly keen to foster in myself an attitude of expectation, not of reluctance. As a child of God, whose future is secure in glory, in a life and realm which is good and beautiful, productive and satisfying beyond my imagination, I want to nurture hope and not to keep harking back to ‘the good old days’, which may indeed have been lovely, but which will not bear comparison to what is in store for me. The best is truly yet to come, why then should I regret the past?

Dear Father, I am so thankful that you know me through and through, and you are full of compassion and love for me and every one of your children. Thank you for all the good things which you have blest me with down the years.

Help me to be grateful, over and over again, and to let go of the stuff which ties us to the past. Stir up in me a hunger for you, and as I grow older, let me become more and not less expectant of the wonderful life which lies ahead, where there will be no partings, no grief, no need to keep things to help me to remember!

Let me carry with me only the deepest gratitude for all your kindness, most of all in the saving work of Jesus my Lord, in whose name I pray, Amen.