Sorting out stuff

Well, it's Spring time here and the world has turned green inspite of the lack of rain. The wind is blowing rather strongly and many of us are affected by hayfever. (NB 2 very good reasons for not doing any bike training ! However I did go out with Marc for a 40 km ride last week.)

So the ol' Spring fever has set in and I'm cleaning things and have got the urge to sort stuff out. Gotta make the most of it while it lasts !!! 

I need to get rid of things - always hard to do when you could think of a useful reconversion for many objects, and when you are quite 'green-spirited' and wish to recycle rather than throw out, and when you think you are going to run the best Kids' club in the area so you need all these things for potential art & craft activities, and when you worry that you wouldn't have enough money to buy another one later if you did need it .....

So what should I do with all my Bible Institute notes ? Three years of treasure stashed away in cardboard folders. It was all so wonderful to discover at the time and so much of what I had noted meant so much to me in my Christian growth. How I wanted to pass it all on - to my own children, to other children, to other women. But do I really need to keep it all and lug it around every time we move house (because, yes, we are going to be moving house in July and August - so much for real holidays!).

Then I started to take a look at the notes, thinking that my New Year's Resolution could be to re-read everything and do a refresher course. 

What sort of baggage do we drag along with us day-to-day, week-in-week-out, from year to year ??? How much do we hang on to things and let them weigh us down instead of heeding Paul's encouraging us to strive ahead, look forward and leaving behind us all that hinders, to run the race to its end.

Yet, looking through those notes I could only be encouraged. Wow ! So much of what was new and exciting in 1990 is now acquired knowledge. And even if I say it myself, I have been putting many things into practice in my personal and family life, in my ministry, in my understanding of the world today through a Christian perspective.  

So I figure I'm carrying some good baggage. And I can throw out a lot of those notes because what is written is now written in my heart and the Holy Spirit is there to remind me of it.

Mmm, I feel lighter already ! (But not light enough to get up those Ardèche hills! anyone know of a way to lose 10 kilos overnight without serious consequences to one's health ???)