Downsizing: Reversing a Lifetime of Needing, Getting and Using Things.
An Early Start
As a little boy growing up in Nazi occupied Holland, I learned to keep my eyes open for things like an edible nut to take home and put in the pantry, or a tree branch to lay by the heater. I saw Mama stoop down and pick up a rusty nail from the gutter, then carry it home to put in Papa’s toolbox. Things lost or discarded by others were trophies I could bring home for my parents to use. All the stores in our area had been looted by German soldiers and their contents shipped to Germany. Then, to end the war, Canadian soldiers brought peace and food, as well as fuel, and met our basic human needs; yet, I continued my scavenging habit.
When I was twelve years old, we emigrated to Canada and lived at the bottom of the economic scale. I picked up beer and pop bottles from the ditches and returned them to the depot for two cents each. We kept every item of clothing, even when it was outgrown, since it would be used to patch other clothing.
This training and experience set me on a path of working hard to earn money and acquire the physical things I needed. I also learned to practice extreme frugality, always seeking the most affordable option. “Wear it out, make it do, and do without,” was my motto. I also became increasingly acquisitive, wanting to get and hold onto anything that might be useful.
Good Missionary Training
In the 1960s, this experience provided valuable training for becoming a missionary to Brazil. The biblically sound motivation to become Bible translators for some language group that didn’t have any Scripture in their language drove my wife and me to pray and to save every penny to pay for training, equipment and travel. Looking back over the sixty years since that preparation time, I can see that we did not let up on living a frugal lifestyle, and our drive to keep as many things as God provided for us.
First Experience in Downsizing
It was, therefore, very difficult for us to leave Brazil after nearly twenty-five years and leave behind a fully furnished house on the missionary centre, all our dishes and kitchenware, and hundreds of English-language books that our family had read during those decades. We arrived in Canada with just a few suitcases of possessions. That was the start of learning to give away what we had accumulated and to keep praying for God to supply our current needs.
Our Final Downsizing
Now, more than thirty years later, we are moving to a new home: the independent living section of an elderly care facility in Stony Plain. Yeah, our 25th home is an “Old Folks’ home.” We will have a small two-room and bath suite, less than half the size of our 1,000-square-foot prefab house on an acreage. We plan to move in this Saturday, October 11. (Pictures next time.)
We are now practicing the next part of the lesson on giving things away. We look at everything we own and for each item we ask, “Do we need this?” If we do, we keep it. Everything else we are giving away.
The first good part of this life is the relief of no longer needing to hang onto things “in case we need them in the future.” We are in the second half of our eighties and may not have that much earthly future left. The second positive aspect is that we’re able to give away a wide range of useful items to our three daughters and eight grandkids.
And beyond the giveaway to family and friends, we enjoy the third benefit our downsizing brings. We are giving away dozens of large bags of clothing and bedding, and cardboard boxes of books, dishes, tools, and other items to our favourite charity, the Mennonite Central Committee thrift store. We take comfort in knowing that the money they receive from selling what we donate is used to show love and compassion to people in forty-five countries worldwide by providing for their basic human needs.
Now in old age, that little Dutch boy is giving away his stuff to help others in need.