There is something empowering about getting rid of toys.

It’s like a proclamation.

A declaration for my children and for myself.

A bold statement to all the advertisements, the billboards and the commercials that never shut-up.

We don’t need your stuff!

Your stuff does not make us happy.

 Because the things you promise will bring us hours of fun,

only bring us hours of fighting and whining over whose turn it is until it gets broken.

And then we spend the majority of our days picking up the broken pieces of things-

sanitizing them, organizing them, keeping them contained,

 that we rarely have enough time to sit down and actually play with each other.

We have too many things to worry about.

So I am taking a stand.

I am throwing away all the things that are wasting our time.

And it is amazing how much space we really have.

I am not sure if our house looks different or if I am just seeing our house differently.

And you’ll never believe it!

After I threw away most of the toys, the kids began to play better,

with each other and with the toys they got to keep.

And I am wondering if life is kind of like that.

The more we free ourselves from all the things that we think we need,

the more we can actually enjoy what we have been given.

 And today we have been given trash bags…

And today we have been given more than enough.