A Time to Throw Away

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven . . . a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 5–6 ESV).

Years ago, my mom gathered all four of her daughters to her room and told us to select which of her precious treasures we’d each like to keep. Before us sat beautiful rings and jewelry she had received from our father and grandmother alongside valuable keepsakes she had collected over the years.

We all looked perplexed at one another. Why was she doing this at this stage of her life?

Little did we know . . . within a few short years, we would watch her slowly exit the world of consciousness, dragged into darkness by dementia.

Did Mom know this would happen? I don’t know. But on the day she passed, her drawers were straight, her closets were stripped down to the simplest of necessary items, and her daughters held tightly to the few possessions that weighed heavy with sentimental value. Everything was in order.

Our Attachment to ‘Things’

We’re all attached to things. But how many of those things are just that: things? Take it from a now-70-year-old who has plenty of overflowing drawers and closets that look like they’re one shirt away from an explosion—these things can become anchors to this world, this life, this temporary existence on earth.

It reminds me of the animated version of Gulliver’s Travels, in which he landed on an island inhabited by tiny people. As he slept, they pinned him to the ground with a million tiny cords. When he woke, he couldn’t move.

When ‘Things’ Become an Issue

Similarly, these things we possess are like invisible cords that prevent us from standing from our slumber, from tending to the things that matter most. They keep our minds on the world and what is temporary and make these insignificant spoils the center of our entire existence.

Isaiah went to Hezekiah and told him, “Set your house in order, for you shall die” (Isaiah 38:1 ESV).

It may sound morbid, but Isaiah reminds us all of a truth we should always keep at the center: We are not made for this world! We will, one day, die. And what will we leave behind? Will we find that we’ve stored treasures in Heaven through our love for the Lord, or will we find we were bound by the things of this world, holding onto them all until the bitter end?

What Clutter Could You Clear?

A friend of mine once said that you spend the first half of your life acquiring things, and the second half of your life unloading them.

As the writer of Ecclesiastes so poignantly put it: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven . . . a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together . . . a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away”  (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 5–6 ESV).

Now, I’m not saying to go and strip your entire life down and throw out every item in your house. But how many possessions are holding you down and distracting you? What clutter could you clear out from your house, your mind, your heart?

We do not know the hour of our death, and I encourage you: Be ready. Prepare your house, and most of all—prepare your heart!

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Cathe Laurie is the founder and director of the Virtue women’s ministry. She is also a featured speaker on The Virtue Podcast, at Harvest events, and the author of As I See It. You can find her weekly articles here on harvest.org.