Why Purge?
Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 7:24 PM
As I shared last week, I was feeling a little iffy about doing the 40 Bags challenge this year. Mostly, I had been thinking that after last year’s efforts, I wouldn’t have enough stuff to donate.
Turns out, I totally do.
I’m doing an active purge again this year, and even though I won’t get nearly the amount of bags as last year, I am still doing a fairly impressive job of finding things around our home we just don’t need.
As I was cleaning in my pantry today, I was reflecting on the importance of Lenten cleansing. These 40 days of Lent are such a perfect time for ridding our home of excess baggage. It’s easy to argue that our focus should be on the internal, that all this cleaning and organizing is missing the point, but I beg to differ. I argue that spending time working on our physical environs (within reason) actually helps in our quest for interior peace, for a focus on getting ourselves right with God, for uniting our suffering (in some small way) with the suffering of the Cross.
As I swept and tidied today, I thought about a lot of things—and that is half the battle. I was thinking, pondering, reflecting, and these kinds of activities bring us closer to God.
Here’s my list of why cleaning is good for the soul, and thus an important part of the Lenten experience:
1. Cleaning makes us think. It’s a seemingly mindless task that, if we use our mental energies properly, can be a perfect opportunity to affix our mind on Christ.
2. Order brings peace. When I’m working to bring peace to my home, it brings peace to my interior life as well.
3. Getting rid of stuff puts things in perspective. I pick up an item, consider its importance in our home life, and either put it back on the shelf or into a bag to donate. I am being deliberate in the state of my home—and in the materials we have therein.
4. Getting rid of stuff reminds me that we all started as dust, and shall return to it. These items I now donate, they were once important in the life of our home. And now that phase has ended.
5. Getting rid of stuff helps me not want to get more stuff. This is the perfect first step in casting off the dark cloak of materialism—a cloak we should all work hard to avoid.
6. Organizing and bringing order to my home helps me want to live my vocation to the fullest, to bring beauty into our little sanctuary that houses our family, the Little Church.
What about you? What is it about decluttering and purging that helps you on your Lenten journey?
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