Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Packing and De-Cluttering...A Spiritual Activity?

   This is our life right now...boxes, piles, and lists. What you see behind Ryan are all the boxes that we are shipping to Germany by boat. We have reduced the possessions of our family into 372 cubic ft. There is more of course. There is the stuff we are bringing with us on the plane.  That amounts to three suitcases per person.

The things that made the cut.
   Our house looks empty, except for the pile of things being shipped to Germany, and the pile marked "yard sale", and the pile marked "donate". It could be a strange and unsettling feeling for some folks, but I have found it to be freeing. Over the last couple of months we have sorted and cleaned and found so many THINGS that we forgot we even owned. 

  There were several episodes of tears when choices had to be made, such as, which two baby dolls to keep out of five. Yes...one child had five baby dolls all serving the exact same purpose.  Yet, it was still painful to choose which to keep and which to give away. One child has a particular love for collecting stuffed animals, and it was difficult knowing that not all of them could come. And it wasn't only the children that had to make tough choices...oh no, Mama likes her books....A LOT! So what if I have that book on Kindle, or two copies of the same...books are treasures, MY treasures! (Insert Gollum voice here)...My Precious.

The house emptying out of all it's STUFF
The words of Jesus have hit our family hard in this area.  

Luke 12:15-21 (NKJV)

 15 And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”


There it was plain as day...perhaps kicking me between the eyes... "for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” My 8 year old kept saying, "But, this toy (or thing, or scrap of paper) reminds me of (insert memory here)." Hmm, if memories are only tied to the things we possess, and if getting rid of things makes us loose those memories, then I could see how people would get caught up in feeling like their life DID consist of the things we possess. But, Jesus promises that our life does NOT consist in these possessions. So, we bring ourselves under the authority of scripture. Where our thoughts differ from what is plainly taught, then we must ask for help and wisdom to bring our thoughts in line with God's teaching. 

The child who loves her stuffed animals decided that God was telling her to get rid of ALL of them. We reassured her several times that we were NOT asking her to give them all away, only to narrow it down.  But, she prayed and felt that God was asking her to trust Him and love Him more than those toys. She cried a little, then all on her own got gift bags from the closet and made little gifts for special children in her life. She chose to give those toys to others, and found that it increased her own joy, and freed her room of space. 

Below is a picture sent from the mother of one of the children who received a bag full of stuffed animals...our daughter was SO happy to see how her love increased as she gave away her possessions. 

The love given to others.
Verses 16-12 in the above passage speak on investing in the Kingdom of God more than our possessions on earth.  This is counter-cultural in our society, and many have a hard time seeing how this truth plays out in their lives.

 But we have met many on our support raising journey who have counted investing in the Kingdom of God of the highest return rate for their possessions. We are so encouraged that these people are willing to invest in the lives of missionaries and their families by supporting us and the work at Black Forest Academy. 

 We are thrilled to see God continue to raise our monthly support. We are at 62% of our monthly needs so far. At 90%, we can buy tickets and leave for Germany. The time is quickly approaching, and we could grow uneasy, but we put our trust in the God who has called us and who will provide the means to accomplish what He has called us to do.

Would you like to join our support team with a monthly or yearly pledge? All donations are tax deductible, and earn incredible heavenly interests.  :) 
Will you test the Lord's words and see the joy of giving greatly expand your life more than any earthly thing you could possess?

You can make your pledge at this site:  https://give.teachbeyond.org/support/zwemkes/

Our girls at Berry College, visiting friends and the eagles on campus.

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