My Little Lady will not be Forgotten

I’m on a major downsizing mission. I am taking “out with the old and in with the new” seriously. Old clothes, old furniture, old treasures, old unnecessary items that take up too much space. I can’t begin to tell you how freeing it has been to clear out cluttered closets and cabinets, clear off counters, clean out my desk and file drawers. Next comes my garage. I am aware of the need to let go of the past to make room for new memories right here and now. I’m not saying I’m won't remember and cherish the most precious of times. I am saying I don’t need accumulated stuff to remember. Facebook Marketplace has been my new friend – posting in online groups the items that were occupying too much space and other oversized and out-of-date items (i.e., an overstuffed, huge sofa and an enormous coffee table). I will replace them with a streamlined and in style sofa and coffee table. The “old” served their purposes well. But now I’m making space for “less is more” comfort. This Christmas season I placed less décor up. Not near as much as the “Christmas Store” look I’ve had for years. I embraced downsizing so much that I determined this would be my new normal. That’s when Marketplace came to mind. I put all those things I wanted to keep in a third of the tubs and the rest went on Marketplace. I’ve paid each item forward so others can make new memories. I had my own CDC guidelines. I would place the item on Marketplace. My “customers” would rush to my home to get it before anyone else did. They wore masks. I wore mine. They would hear Christian worship and praise music in the background. I would sneak in a “God bless you” or pray with someone who was in obvious pain. My little Marketplace mission field. One of the best “buying” methods I’ve found is buyers using Venmo, PayPal and Zelle apps to snap up their item from their place and not having to try to beat someone to my home. I receive their payment, write SOLD on their item and they text me when they’re at my home. Oh, the blessings of technology.

Now let me tell you about my little lady statute here that I let go. She stood her post in our bedroom all over Oklahoma, Manitoba, Canada, back to Oklahoma and now Texas. Oh, the stories she could tell, if she could have talked! LOL! Specifically, the times I slept on the edge of the bed when I had a ‘tude about something my husband said or did. Or the times of the sweetest love that we had for God and each other. It was time to say good-bye to our “lady in waiting”. We purchased her on a Mexico missions’ trip we led with about 20 Bible school students. Cherished, sweet memories. I will not need my little lady’s presence to remember. Why am I sharing this “out with the old – in with the new” story? Because I looked up at this picture on the wall above my dresser mirrors. It is a calligraphy painting my daughter made for us years ago. It is the Prayer of Jabez: “Oh, that you would bless me indeed and ENLARGE my territory. Let your hand be with me and keep me from evil so I will be free from pain.” (1 Chronicles 4:10). I always thought of the words “enlarge my territory” as more land, larger home, greater outreach, etc. But it settled in with me that “larger territory” just might be right here in this place, getting rid of clutter, the frustrations, the things – so that it all can be replaced with more of God and less of me; more space for freedom. It sure feels so, so good.