Closet Full of Clothes

This afternoon while Ross cleaned bathrooms, I sorted through my part of our walk-in closet.  I have SO many clothes.  I have working woman clothes from 2007 until I got pregnant with E-man (let's face it, even if they fit they aren't really in style anymore!).  I have a couple of sizes of clothes from the transition of having E-man through now.  I have all different seasons of clothes mixed together and then I have one portion of the closet dedicated to 'dress up' clothes I'm keeping from high school and college days.  My Mom kept a bunch of her stuff (she actually hand made a lot of her clothes in the 70s) and I always enjoyed dressing up in her clothes, so I have kept some of my favorites aside for the same reason.  

As I was standing there looking at all of these clothes it got me thinking about why I am so attached to 'things' - why is it hard to actually put clothes in the give-away pile.  I think of the money it took to buy them, the hours of work that paid for them, the size I was when they fit, why I liked certain pants, certain outfits Ross bought for me, an event or wedding something was purchased for, etc.  I suppose there are lots of memories that go with our clothes, but what is amazing is that they can sit in a closet for MONTHS and never be needed and (gasp) not even be missed or thought about ... however, suddenly, when I go to get rid of them I have a little bit of a hard time parting with them.    It makes me question were my heart is ...

 ¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

So, I'm thankful I had a little bit of time today to sort through my earthly 'treasures' and give some of them away.  It's good for my heart to have to go through the exercise of 'letting go' and being reminded of what is really important.  It's kind of interesting because on our walk after the closet purge, I told Ross I have been thinking a lot about Camp Spofford recently because we're coming up on the 7th anniversary of the death of Tyler Berntsen, a fellow camp staff member the summer I worked at Spofford.  Thinking about him this afternoon and how brief our stay on earth here is, reminds me again of what little importance our earthly 'treasure' really has ... and of what great importance the state of our heart is for eternity.