The first full weekend in August is the Route 11 Shenandoah County Yard Crawl, miles and miles of cast-off stuff looking for a new home. Where will it all go?
When we drove to Raphine, VA last Sunday, I noticed storage facilities all over the place even in what some would describe as being in the middle of nowhere. People own so much junk that they fill up their homes and then rent facilities so they can accumulate even more. It actually reminds me of the vomitoriums of ancient Rome, purge and then refill!
I'm not surprised when I see storage facilities around the cities, but out here in the country? I understand when you are getting ready to move that you might need a temporary place to declutter and give your home a more open feel to enhance the sale. But how many people fill up a storage space and never ever even look at what's in there? I've come to think of it as the graphic display of a degenerate culture buying space to serve as their junk closets! Gosh! I can't even deal with my junk drawers!
Really, folks, you can't take it with you!
The freest I ever felt was being in jail after pro-life rescues. I spent 24 hours in Alexandria, four days in jail in Arlington, and 24 days in the Erie County Holding Center in Buffalo. I had nothing but a change of underwear, a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste...oh, and maybe my wedding ring, I don't think they took that away.
There's something liberating about having nothing or just enough that you need. It refocuses emphasis on spiritual riches. I can't say I enjoyed jail, but it was a great opportunity to reflect and pray. There wasn't much else to do. The three friends and I who served the 24 hours together in Alexandria sang hymns. One of the other inmates in the male section could hear us through the vents and encouraged us to continue. We made friends playing basketball with some of the other women who were mostly there because of theft to support drug habits. We went back and visited them until they all were released. I remember taking our children around Halloween all dressed up, teaching them about the corporal work of mercy, to visit the imprisoned.
I confess I have a lot of junk, including a dress up closet that contains costumes that are long out of use. This October I will take them to the chapel and put them on the "free" table and hope they find new homes. My sister sells used books. I'll pack up several boxes for her. If Thrift Books Buy Back program doesn't want them, she has several little give-away centers in her neighborhood where she can put them. And then, of course, there are the local consignment stores and the Good Will. But I will NEVER, EVER rent a storage unit.
As for the yard crawl today. I'm hunkered down at home preparing my exhibits for the county fair. We got a taste of the traffic yesterday with lots of early birds already offering their treasures along Route 11: lots of stops and slowdowns. No thank you! Today I'm staying home and maybe packing up some of my junk for resale or gifting. The less stuff, the less bothering with it. When I think of the Holy Family in their little home at Nazareth, I'm embarrassed to look around at all the stuff around here that weighs us down.
Lord, help me not to be possessed by my junk!
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