Many years ago I had deep-cleaned my bedroom and was reviewing some of my stuff. I thought about how important this stuff was to me and how much I would suffer if I lost it through fire, natural disasters or other nefarious means.
I made a rather startling decision. I decided the best course of action would be to discard it myself. Why? Because I controlled it.
I'm not going to advocate your throwing away all the stuff you've decided you can't utilize. We still have a stewardship over material things even if we ourselves cannot personally utilize it.
We shouldn't acquire stuff mindlessly and we shouldn't discard it mindlessly. We can attempt to get it into the hands of people who can utilize it.
So, what if we give our stuff to others who can't utilize it either and it ends up feeding their materialism? Obviously, this is not a good choice.
Also, we should not engage in a race to give up the most or the fastest.
I've never thought much of most efforts to give things to the disadvantaged. How hard is it to give away something you don't want anyway? I decided some time ago I would only donate things that I would want to use.
When I give canned food to food banks, for example, I generally give exactly what I currently use, not old outdated items I don't want or don't like. Over Christmas we donated some items to a canned food drive. What we gave, I personally like a lot but my husband's digestive system could no longer handle them, even though he liked them too.
Implied in the stewardship to use and not misuse is the stewardship to discard properly.
So, get rid of it. But, get rid of it wisely.
Series: Mormons & Materialism Series
Part 1 We Can't Take it With Us or Even Use it Here
Part 2 Stuff & Nonsense
Part 3 Out of Purgatory or Into Heaven
Part 4 What We Consume Ends Up Consuming Us
Part 5 Affluence or the Appearance of It
Part 6 Titles, Labels and Lemon Juice
Part 7 Power and Other Addictions
Part 8 Summer Cottages in Babylon
Part 9 Valuing Based on Utility
Part 10 Get Rid of It!
Part 11: Consecration & Conclusion
I made a rather startling decision. I decided the best course of action would be to discard it myself. Why? Because I controlled it.
I'm not going to advocate your throwing away all the stuff you've decided you can't utilize. We still have a stewardship over material things even if we ourselves cannot personally utilize it.
We shouldn't acquire stuff mindlessly and we shouldn't discard it mindlessly. We can attempt to get it into the hands of people who can utilize it.
So, what if we give our stuff to others who can't utilize it either and it ends up feeding their materialism? Obviously, this is not a good choice.
Also, we should not engage in a race to give up the most or the fastest.
I've never thought much of most efforts to give things to the disadvantaged. How hard is it to give away something you don't want anyway? I decided some time ago I would only donate things that I would want to use.
When I give canned food to food banks, for example, I generally give exactly what I currently use, not old outdated items I don't want or don't like. Over Christmas we donated some items to a canned food drive. What we gave, I personally like a lot but my husband's digestive system could no longer handle them, even though he liked them too.
Implied in the stewardship to use and not misuse is the stewardship to discard properly.
So, get rid of it. But, get rid of it wisely.
Series: Mormons & Materialism Series
Part 1 We Can't Take it With Us or Even Use it Here
Part 2 Stuff & Nonsense
Part 3 Out of Purgatory or Into Heaven
Part 4 What We Consume Ends Up Consuming Us
Part 5 Affluence or the Appearance of It
Part 6 Titles, Labels and Lemon Juice
Part 7 Power and Other Addictions
Part 8 Summer Cottages in Babylon
Part 9 Valuing Based on Utility
Part 10 Get Rid of It!
Part 11: Consecration & Conclusion
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