On Doing Without...

We've been purging things around the good 'ole Schweighardt Complex lately, and boy, oh, boy, is it going to feel good once we actually get it all out of the house.

Our church is hosting a swap and sale this weekend and it has inspired us to start looking at our material possessions in a different way. You may be feeling a bit of deja vu, since I covered this topic last year, but I'm starting to realize there is a very big difference between what you need and what you can do without.

Enter: the swap and sale. What exactly is a swap and sale? I'm so glad you asked. Because I had no idea either.

A gal from our church has been inspired by Acts 2 verse 45 (under the heading of 'The Fellowship of the Believers"): "And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need."

What is significant about this passage is that the seemingly simple act of selling their possessions was not simple at all. Most of these people were not rich. They were simple people with possessions befitting their station in life. The items these believers were selling were things commonly seen as needed. Instead, they went without those possessions in order to give to those who really needed them.

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

And totally out of the norm for our society.

So, the church has volunteered to host this swap and sale, in which, all this week, the church family drops off items they don't need. Volunteers come in to organize all the items and on Saturday morning the entire church is invited to come early to see if there is anything among those items that they are in actual need of. Later in the day, it turns into a sale that is open to the rest of the community by donation. All the money raised from the sale portion of this event goes to support missions.

Very cool concept. And I am obviously pumped up about the upcoming event. Not only am I looking forward to seeing what other people have discovered they don't need, but I can't wait to see how those physical possessions can become a blessing in someone else's life.

Now, how about you? What are you living with that you don't need? What can you do without? Really think about it and then do it!