By John Warren

One of the things that many people learn while cleaning up after Harvey was I have too much stuff! Do we really need all these things?

My wife and I moved here seven years and we still have things in boxes in the garage that we never unpacked. If you do not need them in seven years, you do not need them.

As I get older, I am getting more and more like my Aunt Viola.

Aunt Vi would grocery shop on Tuesday in order to get double SH Green Stamps. She would buy extra amounts to get more stamps because she used the stamps to purchase Christmas presents.

The house was stacked with the cases of stuff she bought to get enough stamps for her gifts.

There were cases of catsup, cans of peas, and things that were out of date.

We were instructed to never eat anything at Aunt Vi’s house.

This was very tempting for me because she always had a gumdrop tree with different colored gumdrops on each stem. This is, until one day, I popped one in my mouth and it was as hard as a rock.

Lesson learned.

On Christmas Day, we would visit her and she would take us to her feather bed and she would lift up the mattress. There were scarves or aprons for the women and girls and ties for the men and boys. All pressed by the weight of the mattress!

I guess the reason I am on this subject is because my computer is a hoarder.

I know I should throw stuff away. So yesterday, when it froze, I started trying to throw things in the trash but it would not go in. Things flew right back to the Word program!

It wouldn’t let go of stuff, even after it’s usefulness was long past like those old gumdrops.

We are like that. We, too, hold on to hurts that we should let go.

We hold onto things that have lost their usefulness.

We hold onto money when we could have shared it to make the world a better place and spread the love of Jesus Christ.

Lord knows, year after year, I see families load up u-haul trailers full of stuff and bank accounts full of money they don’t truly need because their own accounts are full as well.

At the risk of quoting a song from Disney’s blockbuster hit, I want to say, “Let it go! Let it go!”

Actually, that would be a good song to play during the offering.

Let go of those past hurts and stop carrying that baggage around and thank God for the blessings God has given you and offer to God gifts of gratitude for walking by your side.

 

John Warren is Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church, 502 North 6^th Street in Orange.