I’m not much into fireworks, so I decided to celebrate Independence Day with a little döstädning instead.
Döstädning: Otherwise known as “Swedish Death Cleaning.” It’s an actual thing, I recently learned – the decision to declutter one’s life, as an act of love towards those who will be left behind. The idea is to get rid of unwanted stuff now … so they won’t have to later.
Books are one major source of clutter in my case. I have shelves full of them, on every level of the house. Books dating back 50+ years, to my college days. Books, too, more recently purchased – another batch arrived just this past week. Books, books everywhere … up and down, all around, weighing me down. Which I figure makes them the perfect starting point for a little personal döstädning.
The thing is, most of them are good books. I enjoyed reading them, and on some level I believe there is a wholesomeness to merely owning them. Books, the right books anyway, can actually serve to make you a better person. So getting rid of them hurts a bit. You need to employ a ruthless calculus if you’re going to make any progress in döstädning at all. And my calculus turned out to be this: (How many years do I imagine I have left?) – (How likely am I to re-read this book in that span?) = 0.
Using this formula made it fairly simple to round up several dozen tomes in a tote bag and cart them off to a neighborhood repository. But truth be told, getting rid of them barely made a dent in decluttering my bookshelves. I still have work to do, lots of döstädning work. I suspect most Americans do. We may salute our independence, but we tend to weigh ourselves down with all kinds of stuff.
That’s not exactly a gospel value, as Jesus points out to his disciples in the passage we hear from Luke today. “Go on your way,” Jesus says. “[But] carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals.”
This sure ain’t the American way. And perhaps that’s why we need to pray “God mend thine every flaw” whenever we sing America the Beautiful.
“Let the peace of Christ control your hearts; let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” we proclaim in today’s gospel verse. Maybe a little döstädning can start to make just such a difference in my life. Maybe it can help move me a step or two closer to the goal of letting Christ have control.
Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.
IHS
With Us Still 
Good method! Hold on to the Good book.
Excellent recommendation, Mary! 😇
Enjoyed this, I think…we have the same collecting addiction. I have a hard time letting go of books. Here’s another variable for your calculus and the toughest one to figure out:
How likely is it that one of the kids or grandkids will one day really wish they had Pop’s books?????
After all, the one who becomes a history teacher will want those top two shelves and the one who becomes….
It’s a tough. There’s more to this story, which I should write about someday…
Peace from Hawaii, where we’re celebrating our 45th anniversary, which is actually in August…
Steve
Steve Givens Givens Creative (314) 401-2072
Glad to hear you’re getting a head start on the celebration! Enjoy!
I commend you John. Parting ways with books is not an easy thing. I made a sizable donation to the Arkansas deacons’ formation program and gifted a former clergy colleague with as many as she wished. My granddaughters made their selections from what remained on my shelves. I still have a ways to go, but I can rest assured that my letting go will continue to benefit others.