Bigger Barns

Tags

charity, donate, excess, harvest, Jesus, Luke, parable, possessions, rich man, share the wealth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Yesterday afternoon I began to make an inventory of one category of clothing (t-shirts and blouses) in my closet, drawer and storage bin. I only made it through the closet and storage bin when my phone rang and derailed the project. I was, however, already getting uncomfortable with how many items I had found in the storage bin. I had put them there as winter approached for the exchange with the heavier, more appropriate clothes of the season. The discomfort arose from the fact that July ends today and I have survived quite well with what I have found in my drawer and closet to wear since the warmer temperatures arrived in the spring. My dilemma today (after I pull everything out of my drawer) will be which items I will surrender to my favorite charity, Rural Services of Chenango County. I am usually moved to donate what doesn’t fit me any more or what I have not worn in the past appropriate season but this time I feel a push to dig deeper. It is the first time I can remember surrendering something still serviceable that fit me and that I really liked without too much angst – good practice for the inner tasks of letting go.

In today’s gospel passage (LK 12:13-31) Jesus tells the story of the rich man with the bountiful harvest whose solution to having too much to store is to build a bigger barn. I smile at God’s synchronistic joke and promise to remember that goad to surrender as I finish my project today. I have no plan to die soon with an overstocked closet but who knows? So I’d better get busy, my goal being to share the wealth and – just maybe – eliminating the storage bin altogether! (Even if only by next year…)