A Simple Summer

Elizabeth Estrada learns that as she clears her home of extra stuff, she has more spiritual room as well.

Usually I like to do my “spring cleaning” in the spring, but because of the challenges I had at the beginning of the year it was not possible. Thankfully, I have had time this summer to purge.

I had been feeling stuck, overwhelmed, and sad. It got to the point that my home felt small because of stuff.

So, pretty much every day during my summer break, I have been tackling different areas in my house. Many times, it’s not the entire room but maybe a closet, desk, counter, you get the idea. As I cleaned and looked through a variety of things, things I forgot I had, I realized that I needed to let it go and let someone who needs it use it.

It’s interesting how this purging of my house is helping me get closer to God. I know it sounds funny but for the last couple of months I have been thinking about detaching from “stuff” because in many books about spiritually many saints recommend “letting go” of stuff to make room for God.

This process has helped me begin to understand and reflect on why I had so much stuff and kept things I didn’t even use. These things gave me comfort and perhaps were just a temporary fix for the wounds of the time.