A Yard sale is a recognition of all the junk one has accumulated, and an effort to simplify.
My family is not especially materialistic. When any four of us see something we want, our second thought is usually "do I really need it?" This is another one of the subtle characteristics I've seen in this family that reminds me that God has been preparing us for a life of mission work. But no matter how good you think you are at living simply, a yard sale opens your eyes to the sea of junk that has infested your home.
Today I looked out, and I saw so much stuff, that at one time was valued and new, and now, is a burden to rid ourselves of. It is an endless cycle.
Becoming a missionary, you can only take so many things with you. You have to decide what is junk, what is essential to keep with you, and what is storable. Then you have to pay for shipping for the essentials and storage for the storables. This levies quite the price on whatever you decide to keep. The logical side of my brain says "put it in the dumpster" but my wife makes a good point, we should try to sell what we can, otherwise it's wasteful. Now that the yard sale is over, she feels justified that she gave it her best shot to avoid waste, and we took it all to our local charity.
I figure each item has 4 prices. 1. Original purchase 2. Storage 3.Labor in trying to sell 4. Labor in donating or 4. Cost to take to dump.
And that's IF we get rid of it. I have entertained thoughts of a massive bonfire, but have you seen how much firewood is these days (-;
We have tried to live simply, but you never truly realize how far you've missed the mark until you've had a yard sale. And each yard sale is a symbolic moment. Like a New Year's resolution. "I'm going to stop buying junk." It is a cost of being a family and having roots. You acquire things. The important thing isn't the cost of these things, or the amount of these items. The important thing, is that we maintain the proper attitude towards them. God's kingdom is more important than our kingdom of junk, and all our worldly possessions can burn in a fire before we value one of them higher than every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
