How Much Stuff Does A Kid Need?

How much stuff does a 3 year old and 6 year old really need?  I was looking around the house and the garage and the shed, and I realize that probably a good 70% of stuff are for kids.  Like, it’s not even toys.  It like, outdoor stuff, activity stuff, books, and clothes!  It’s just bonkers.  Like I think we have like 5 giant bins of kid clothes.  And honestly, there are probably a lot of stuff of kid’s things we could just get rid of, but the problem is how fast they grow.  The speed in their physical and mental growth is insane.  It goes by so fast that there is no time to organize and assess.  It just like make space for what comes next!
​
So, my wife and I would throw away some of their old toys that we feel they don’t use anymore, which is like only about less than 10% of the 70% of stuff, but it’s a start.  So we’d toss them and literally the next day, somehow, Norah is looking for that one toy she never played with for months.  Then she’d ball her eyes out for the whole day.

So I tried to tell her, that it’s important that we get rid of our old stuff so we can make room for the new stuff.  Or that it’s important to get rid of the lower level books, so she can focus on higher level reading books.  We just can’t keep it all!

Which brings me to how we are to live as Christians.  Our baptism is the beginning of living a new life.  Baptism symbolizes that we are made new.  Think about all the people that Jesus helped or healed or taught.  We may think about the miracle of the healings, but the real miracle to me, is that these are people who committed themselves to live a changed life, and that they let go of their past in order to make room for the future.

Just as children, we have to get new clothes.  We cannot keep wearing the shirt I wore when I was ten.  It wont fit anymore.  Nor can we keep it, because it’s just totally useless.  When we think about growing in faith, it’s all about moving forward.  If you feel that what you know and hold on to when you were taught as children about Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, the church, and you haven’t been taught anything new, then what good is it to you right now? 

As we grow, life will get more and more complicated.  The answers we found comforting when we were children, may not measure up to the situations you face today at age 30,40,50,60, and so on.  You need to start asking bigger questions, and you need to start realizing that those complicating questions will force you to struggle.  But that is growth. 

Some things don’t change though.  God loves you, Jesus is your Savior, the Holy Spirit is your guide, and the church is the manifestation of God’s providence on the earth.  But we must start to think how is God showing you His love in times of struggle and pain?  When does Jesus start becoming rather a teacher to a brother or friend?  What does it mean when the Holy Spirit is forcing you to start moving off the beaten paths to the unexplored areas of living?  What does it mean when the church is unlike the church you grew up when you were younger? 

Are you holding onto things of the past or are you learning to let go of it?  Are you preparing your life for the future or still reminiscing over the past?  Yes God was back there and here now, with you.  But don’t forget God is in front of you, with outstretched arms, waiting for you to come and follow Him.  Telling you that you haven’t seen anything just yet.