To balance out my materialistic Friday Fiveness, here's a thought about possessions. I come from a long line of packrats. The idea seems to be that if something might be useful somehow later. Or even if it won't be but still holds some sort of intrinsic value...you should keep it. Getting rid of it would be wasteful. Probably as soon as you do you'll need it anyway, right? Well since I started this Flylady thing (and a bit before) I've really been trying hard to cut down on what I have around the house. And I've come to realize that my moral compass on keeping things has shifted. Here's a couple thoughts as to why:
1)Flylady emails little thoughts all the time...and mostly I ignore them...but this one she sent really got me thinking. She said that if you are hoarding things you don't use and don't need...you aren't trusting in God to provide for you! That kind of hit me because I realized that it was true in my life. All my possessions are a gift from God to start with, and he will provide all my needs in the future.
2) If I have something that is "perfectly good" and I'm not using it, and someone else could? It's pretty much morally wrong of me to keep it. It should go to someone who will actually need and use it.
So no more hoarding! An example of this: Craig really wanted this bird book last year...and found it really cheap through a book club (see where this is going yet?). And they kept mailing books. Nice big historical references and stuff. Some we sent back...but we didn't wise up soon enough and ended up with 10(!) big hardcover books. Books on Ancient Egypt and stuff. Nice books. So we kept them. Because it's nice to have a good reference library, right? Well we don't read them...they aren't the books we would have chosen. So today I took them over and donated them to the library. And you know what? They were thrilled. They were so happy. They were going on about what great condition they were in (some still in plastic wrap) and how interesting and so new. I hope many people get to read them. And if I get a sudden urge to read about the Egyptian Royal Families? I'll head over to the library.
On that note, here's my Friday Five:
1)Wool Pebbles by Reya Veltman:
2)Fierce Bunny by Make it Awesome at the Poppytalk Handmade Market
3)HTML Earrings by Nicolas and Felice. I want these! Because I am a nerd.
4)Check out this jewelry series by Gesine Hackenberg (via Bloesem) She punches circles out of old china plates, such a great idea.
5)And because it is apparently jewelry day...a gorgeous cuff by Gogo Borgerding
