Vacation is such a delightful time, especially when there are so few demands. Of course, one can only watch so much TV and spend so many hours reading, so some of our time has gone to actual work around the house. We’ve started our New Year’s resolutions to clean and dejunk the clutter a few days early, but why not? We clearly have a long way to go, so we might as well get a head start.

In the midst of my cleaning, I’ve come across some interesting paperwork, things I had saved for whatever reason. Some keepsake cards from family and friends held encouraging notes that touched my life all these years later. And while I’m trying to be ruthless in my tossing of things I don’t want my kids to have to go through it all at some future date because I found them too hard to part with.

Like the Jr. High School yearbook signed by people I had long forgotten, but whose faces brought back many memories. The weirdest part was the reminder of those who have died since graduation day. Two girls I clearly remember, one from Jr. High, the other from high school – Dawn Smith (no relation) and Cheryl Homant.

Dawn and I hung out once in a while and we always stood next to each other in line whenever they put us in alphabetical order. She was killed in a gruesome car accident a few years after high school. Whenever I pass that intersection, I think of her and think how weird it is that she is no longer here.

Cheryl was in my high school typing class and was one of the nicest girls I knew. I learned of her death at my 20 year class reunion. Funny how thinking of people we knew in our youth as gone forever from the earth can affect us. But then death at any age is never easy.

Keepsakes like this are good reminders of where we have come from and how far we still have to go. And yet, too much hoarding of such things can become a burden to us now in the form of clutter and later to those who will have to go through it when we are gone. This is where my grandmother’s advice comes in handy, if only I can follow it. “If you haven’t used it in a year, give it to someone who can get some use from it.”

And really, if I haven’t worn it or used it or looked at it or read it in a set amount of time, what makes me think I ever will? But I disagree with Grandma on the time. Maybe two years – or three. One seems a bit short.

A good New Year’s reminder – hold the sentimentality lightly, give generously, love abundantly. All the little keepsakes are nice, especially when they remind us of people we love or the good God has done, but overdone can become an idol of clutter that enslaves us. I pray that my 2008 holds more love and less clutter.

Which reminds me, I have some cleaning to do…
Happy New Year to all!