Downsizing -- seeing what's really valuable

There's nothing quite like a large construction dumpster to focus the mind.

We've been talking about getting rid of our clutter for some time, and last month, my wife acted on it by ordering the big green monstrosity to be placed into our driveway.

In nearly 40 years of marriage, we've accumulated a lot as any couple would being together for a similar span of time.

The attic and basement were full of boxes and other items we haven't touched or thought about since the moving van did its work years ago.

Downsizing your belongings can create an epiphany.

To wit: a person doesn't need -- or even want -- most everything he or she has.

The items that evaded the maw of the monstrosity were few and far between.

Theological books. Gone.

Yearbooks. Gone.

Award plaques. Gone.

There's a much longer discard list, but the point has been conveyed.

What did we keep?

Family pictures, several Bibles, a few meaningful tomes -- including Will Durant's "The Story of Civilization" series.

As the two of us went through the detritus of decades, one of us would say to the other, "Do you want to keep this?"

Unless the appeal of an item was strong and immediate, we pitched it.

In opening one box pulled from the attic, my mind wandered to Jesus's "Sermon on the Mount."

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21/English Standard Version)

It is helpful to be reminded that Jesus of Nazareth had little in the way of possessions, which enabled his itinerant ministry.

He didn't even carry any money on him, which the accounts in the New Testament Gospels certainly imply.

His then-trusted disciple, Judas Iscariot, was the finance guy.

In a real way, Jesus had a freedom most of us will never enjoy, those of us with attics and basements, with mortgages and installment loans.

Yes, the Lord was free up to a point.

He was in obedient thrall to the ultimate will of his Father.

Robert DeNiro's character in the 1995 movie, "Heat," was a criminal determined not to be tied down by anything or anyone.

"Have no attachments. Allow nothing to be in your life that you cannot walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you spot the heat around the corner."

For Jesus, the heat came for him in the Garden of Gethsemane, and he intentionally did not take DeNiro's path.

Jesus could have fled on the evening referred to as Maundy (Holy) Thursday but stayed instead to face his Passion.

We all are beneficiaries of His decision not to cut and run.

These are things this writer thought about as he added to an ever-larger discard pile.

We have downsized -- a load off our minds and a gift to the children of our union who won't have do the heavy lifting when our transition comes.

Jesus didn't have the baggage of a 21st-century homeowner; he didn't need a dumpster.

He was committed unto death, though, for the mission he was sent to accomplish.

That was a heavy load to carry, and He did it as no one else could.