PUTTING ALL ELSE ASIDE

PUTTING ALL ELSE ASIDE
Monday, October 5, 2026 by Linda Wood Rondeau

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.

(Philippians 3:8 NIV)

In 2012, we downsized for a move to Florida.

Years later, we realized, at our vulnerable ages, it would be better for the children if we lived closer. While we didn’t relish moving again, Maryland wasn’t as cold as Northern New York, where we lived before heading to Florida. After much prayer and a trip to our prospective town, we put the house on the market, and it sold within twenty-four hours. “Guess God wants us in Hagerstown,” we said.

So we downsized again.

Though we’ve been in this apartment for almost ten years at this writing, we continue to downsize, knowing that at any time our living arrangement may require another change – the bane of getting older: relinquishing those items we thought we couldn’t live without. My recycle bin grows thicker, and storage thins out.

A rule of thumb is: if you haven’t used it in a year, toss it. I ask myself why I thought I needed to hang onto these things. Do I really need three colanders? Two electric carving knives? Two steam irons? Three printers? Old landline? Three different sets of silver?

I have a plethora of books, too.

Of course, there are mementos. Pictures, albums, and the like. How can I part with those precious cards from the grands?

And there are my career vanities. Writing conferences that encouraged me, inspirational thoughts I use for blog posts, and copies of my works, published and maybe someday published.

What criteria should I use to toss or keep? Give away or sell?

My eyes well with the reality that from henceforth, I’ll need to live a Spartan existence, keeping only my lance and bow nearby … that which is purely a necessity rather than a want. While there is a weighing down in the process, there is a lightening as well when I finally cast the truly unnecessary aside.

I am reminded of how much our soul

becomes cluttered with unnecessary things.

Have I allowed my prayer life and communion with God to be encumbered with catalogued guilt and shame? Or perhaps I hold my habits and desires as more important than a closer walk with the One who emptied himself of Heaven for me?

Do I spend countless hours drained by unnecessary dogma?

When we get to Heaven, all will be known. And even that knowledge will fade compared to my Savior’s glory.

So as I purge my worldly goods, I pray that God will purge my soul as well. I ask God to place me firmly at the cross. Let me measure the worth of all things at the blood-stained gift of Faith, Christ crucified, risen and alive, living in me and nothing else.

Prayer

Lord, teach me to pray with a heart that is bent toward desiring more of you. When my thoughts stray and my motives turn toward selfish ambition, bend my ear toward your all-encompassing presence. Let me learn more of you. Amen.

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