Christian Minimalism

The Big Purge

And [Jesus] said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. (Luke 12:15)

The beginning of this weekend was marked by beautiful weather– which only partly made up for the intense winter we’ve had here in Pennsylvania this season. So how did my husband Will and I celebrate this amazing weather…?

…We minimized. Specifically, we started minimizing the area we haven’t been able to touch all winter due to the crazy weather– our storage unit.

Since moving from Buffalo, this storage unit has been weighing on our minds. Even before we discovered minimalism and connected it to our Christian faith, we knew that moving from a 3,000 square-foot house to a ~1,200 square-foot apartment meant that most of our stuff would have to be stored elsewhere. And then once we made the decision to adopt a Christian Minimalist lifestyle, it was obvious that minimizing what was in there was imminent.

The funny thing is, we haven’t needed almost ANY of what’s in the storage unit in the 10 months we’ve lived here. A good chunk of the storage unit is taken up by extra furniture. Another good chunk is baby stuff that never got used since our son Gideon died at birth. And there are so many people who need this stuff who just simply don’t have the resources to buy it themselves. So as we talked about the stuff that was stored in there, we knew we would be donating almost all of what’s in the storage unit.

AND since we are moving to Philadelphia in less than 2 months– into a house that is only slightly bigger than our current apartment– we had even more urgency to get to the storage unit and minimize the heck out of it.

Will had gotten a head-start the week before. He grabbed some baby stuff that was near the front and loaded it into the car and drove it to the local Rescue Mission to donate. That was helpful, but we also knew that was just the tip of the iceberg.

 

We were realistic enough to know that a floor-to-ceiling-stuffed storage unit would not be completely minimized in one day, but we wanted to get as much done as we possible. So today, we rented a truck and hired a seminarian from the seminary I work at (to help us move things in the storage unit and help load said truck).

Now this all sounds very simple and straight forward– but even setting aside the time and effort it took to just sort through stuff (mostly furniture and baby stuff) and get it loaded onto the truck, it was emotionally difficult to decide what to keep and what to let go. The bedroom set that my Mom used since she was five and that I used ever since needed to go, and it felt like my soul was sobbing as we loaded it onto the truck, even though letting it go was the right thing to do.

And don’t even get me started on the baby stuff. We knew that so many people would benefit from our donations, that people need baby furniture and diapers and everything else– but watching that stuff go was like re-living the grief of losing our son. Our hopes and dreams for our family seemed to be loaded into that truck as we minimized the baby stuff.

Minimizing is one thing, but most people don’t realize that minimizing and decluttering can be super emotional. Even though we logically know that inanimate objects don’t actually hold memories or people, getting rid of stuff that has meaning to you can be really hard, even when you know that getting rid of it is the right move.

But working through the emotions is so worth it. Even though it was hard in the moment, bringing it all to the Rescue Mission and thinking about how many people would benefit from our stuff was overwhelming. We know that countless families will be using what we were not able to use. And that is great.

We still have a ton more minimizing to do with the rest of the boxes in the storage unit, but at least we made some major headway today. My guess is that most of it will be donated or thrown out, because– as Jesus reminds us– our life’s work does not lie in the abundance of possessions.

 

About 
Becca Ehrlich, AKA The Christian Minimalist, is striving to be a Christian minimalist in a consumer society. She currently lives in Upstate New York with her husband Will and their son Theo. You can read more about her story and how her blog came to exist by clicking the website link above.

3 Comments

  1. Kathy

    April 14, 2018 - 4:29 pm
    Reply

    You two are amazing, courageous, and faithful!

  2. Amber

    February 12, 2019 - 7:08 am
    Reply

    Believe it or not! I know it was God that lead me here! To your stories! I’m a christian and started watching the konmari show, horders and the
    minimalist show. I was raised around horders and I have collected things over the years I can’t seem to part with! That was till I seen these shows. See were fixing to move within a month and I started really looking at what I’m saving! I couldn’t believe the earthly things that held so many memories to me. Some not even so good! It was definitely a process to release these things. So I tried as we went through the house putting scripture with purging. Not waking my items up or greeting my house lol but what Jesus wants me to do for me my health and my family. To teach my kids let things go so we can breathe and do the Lords work on this earth and not just be surrounded by stuff. Through the process of packing and purging I started thinking about people who could use things. So far we’ve had over a 100 bags of garbage and at least 1 or 2 good sized truck loads of donations! Now I found your stories not by accident. I can read and know the Holy Spirit is leading and not something else. Thank you for sharing and great job to you and your husband. I’m sure y’all went through alot purging those items. Sorry for the loss of your lil one. Sometimes we don’t know why things happen the way they do. I guess thats why God says lean not on our own understanding. But this I know. He has amazing plans for you and it all started with you being obedient to write these stories. Thank you so much!! Be blessed. ♥️♥️♥️🙏🙏🙏♥️♥️♥️😁😁😁

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