Here’s a fun game:

Think about everything you own and decide what you would keep if you had to fit everything in 5 suitcases.

Seriously that’s how we’ve started looking at things. The truth is everything we own in the next few months or so will need to either fit in our suitcases or be sold or gotten rid of or paid to store. 

I’ve never liked accumulating things, but this is a whole new worldview as we go through life still in the American culture where things are cheap and there is always a new and better thing to have. 

I’m often reminded of driving through the countryside in England with Katie years ago. We were so confused by seeing signs in the middle of fields advertising a “Boot Sale”. When we returned to town we asked a long time missionary why people will be selling boots out in a field. She explained that people bring their extra things to sell in their cars and park in these fields. Then they raise their car’s boot (trunk) to sell those items. She went on to say that even in a rich country like England, the idea of having so much extra stuff that you need to fill a garage or even a yard and have your own sale was crazy. 

I think this time of getting rid of things will be good for us and our faith. I suspect that even if you’re not planning to move everything you own in a few suitcases, your life and faith might improve with accumulating fewer things or even having your own boot sale.