My kids and I read a children’s book a few years ago about a sweet little (cartoon) mole who was content with the little that he owned: a small home with a single bed and pillow, one little shelf for books and one cup for tea, along with a taste for simple pleasures such as spooking birds and peeking into caves. But one day Mole’s friend Emerson visits for tea and plants the seed of dissatisfaction. With only one teacup to share between the two of them, Emerson declares:”You need more, Mole.” And Mole, instead of rejecting the notion, sets off in search of the Everything that he has been missing out on.
He gathers up a pile of new items, squeezes and shoves and finally manages to tuck everything inside his tiny home. “It wasn’t easy,” but Mole comforts himself with the thought that “at least now I have everything.” And what do you suppose happens next? “In the days and nights that followed, “everything” took up almost all of Mole’s time.” No peeking into caves or spooking birds, Mole is now consumed with sorting and dusting and tidying all of his new belongings.
There are really two stories here: one is a lesson about how possessions and clutter actually restrict our freedom and even rob us of some of life’s richness. It is the age-old, “What do I own, and what owns me?” question. The second is a warning to be careful about which voices we allow to influence our decisions. Emerson, while trying to be a good friend, (maybe inadvertently) leads him in the wrong direction.
The season of Lent is an excellent time to take both lessons to heart and this week I stumbled upon a rather creative way to go about that. It was proposed by a Catholic blogger who came up with an idea to use the 40 days of Lent to de-clutter her home. She calls it “40 bags for 40 days” and it simply involves taking time each day of Lent to clear out some of the “extras” that end up taking up space inside our homes, tossing them in a garbage bag and making sure they leave—for good.
There is also a spiritual component to this “40 Bags” idea in that it mimics the act of clearing out useless habits and sin which sometimes get tucked away into the corners where we leave piles of stuff that we intend to get around to sorting through later. Lent offers a chance to do a sort of “soul purge” and inhale the fresh air of freedom. (Somehow the 40 Bags challenge sounds a lot easier in comparison.)
Even as difficult as the piles of junk (within or all around us) are to eradicate, this is really about something more than just the recovery of a feeling of freedom. At the end of the storybook, Mole sets up a “Free” sign in his front yard and gives all of his Everything away—with the exception of one single teacup, so that he and Emerson can still enjoy the occasional cup of tea together. Although the author is not explicit on this point, I suspect that he meant to suggest that there are others for whom those very same items would be welcome, and maybe even necessary. St. Basil the Great is known for having weighed in on the topic: “The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.”
We make space not just to keep the newly-cleared areas empty, and not just because it is good practice to avoid waste. We do so in order to fill them up with all that is guaranteed to make our lives better, like the virtues: love of neighbor, generosity and service. Less is always more, isn’t that what they say?
As ever, Karidat will happily accept your unwanted items on behalf of those in need; we always seem to find someone who is grateful to use them. Please visit us in Chalan Piao between 8 and 5pm on weekdays.
(for more information about the “40 bags” idea, see: https://simplycatholic.net/2016/02/10/40-bags-in-40-days-faq/)