I have been decluttering – well….. since January 1 really. Taking a room at a time and getting everything OUT that I don’t want IN. I’m not really a hoarder at all. It doesn’t take me long to make a decision to get rid of something if it hasn’t been used in a particular set-amount of time.
When decluttering, there are three basic boxes that you need : KEEP, PITCH, and GIVE AWAY. Ninety percent of the time, it is clear to me when I hold something in my hand into which pile it should go. If it’s clearly trash, then in the pitch pile it goes. If not, then either I can use it or I can give it away for someone else to use. Nothing will be wasted.
You’ve heard the saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” That’s the whole philosophy behind Garage Sales. The seller is finished with it but the buyer finds a treasure. Kids have outgrown clothes, but a mom with younger children has hit the jackpot when finding this treasure of a yard sale.
I go to the recycle center every week with plastics and cardboard. There are shows on television teaching us how to take something that someone else doesn’t want and repurpose it so that it doesn’t have to go in the trash. Friends of mine are making jump ropes from old t-shirts for children in foreign countries to have as a toy in their Operation Christmas Child box.
Old towels can be repurposed for soft rags. Old sheets can be used to gather leaves and landscape clippings easily. Plastic containers that once contained cat treats can be recycled to be used in the garage to gather those bolts and nails that tend to magically scatter themselves around. It is true that one person’s trash can be turned into another man’s treasure. Nothing is ever wasted.
The Bible tells us also that God will never waste a situation either. He promises to use it for His good. It’s hard to imagine that all of the evil, negativity and just plain nastiness in this world can be used – recycled even – to bring glory to God but He says it and I believe it.
Proverbs 16:4 – The Lord works out everything for his own ends – even the wicked for a day of disaster. And Romans 8:28 – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.
So whatever you think is awful – whether it’s television shows, bad news from a doctor, a wayward child, a job loss, a broken relationship – just know that if you trust in the Lord you can see Him recycle the bad into His good. We just have to trust Him. He will not let anything go to waste. Hold tight to that promise today.
