I hope this new story of mine inspires you to clean out any clutter in your own lives. God bless you always.

When my children were in school, each year at the end of Summer my wife and I would buy them all some new clothes for the coming school year. It was a habit that I kept up over the years even though my Special Needs sons are now both in their thirties and wear sizes larger than me. This year I got them both some new shirts and blue jeans to wear for the Fall and Winter to come. But when it came time to put them in the closets and dressers they just wouldn’t fit. There were too many old clothes from past years still in them.

I decided then to do some “Spring” cleaning in Autumn and started to pull out the old shirts and pants that were still in good condition but weren’t getting worn anymore. I didn’t leave my own closet out either. Soon we had two, large, trash bags full of clothes to donate to the local thrift store and help keep other people warm this Winter. It felt good emptying out the dressers and closets again. It had been too long since I did it last. It made my heart feel light.

I think this feeling came from what I learned when I was a boy. When I was only eleven years old my Nana’s old house caught fire and burned down in the middle of the night. We all escaped with our lives but lost every thing we owned. As traumatic as that experience was, though, it taught me a valuable lesson about just how little we need to be happy. I found that all we really need is a little food in our stomachs, a roof over our heads, a few clothes on our backs, Love in our hearts and faith in our souls. The rest doesn’t add much. In fact, I found that having too much stuff can weigh you down and keep you from the happiness you want.

My prayer for all of you then is that you go lightly through life. May you live your lives with empty closets and full hearts. May you share your Love freely and happily. And may God smile down upon you and live through you all the days of your life here.