I received a comment a while back asking why I was holding a cleaning challenge during Lent, it read:
Lent is a season in the Christian church intended for contemplating the life and death of Jesus. I find it very offensive that you’re co-opting a religious holiday to use for spring cleaning. You could do this challenge at any other time. Jesus doesn’t care how roomy your closet is.
Her comment made me realize I never talk about the religious significance of this challenge. I didn’t want to exclude anyone. Jesus doesn’t care about how roomy my closet is, nor do I care how roomy it is. I care more about how wasteful I’ve been and what I can do to improve.
To me, Lent is a time of prayer, sacrifice, and self-denial. Getting a little bit uncomfortable and offering it up for good intentions; to improve yourself for the better of those around you. Anyone can benefit from these practices, regardless of religion or if you don’t do Lent.
Could I donate unused clothing to those in need? Do we let food go to waste? Am I spending money on new possessions when I could be helping those in need? Yes. Having too much can be wrong and wasteful and I need to take steps to be better.
If Jesus asked the rich man to sell and give up his possessions, give to the poor, and follow Him, maybe he is asking the same of me?
These are all worldly possessions, in the end they don’t matter. By doing this I hope to become more and more detached. So I give up my things. I donate or sell them. I recycle or throw things away which are not good quality to donate. I donate a portion of the money I make from my items or use money saved to be more generous.
In addition, my material items also take time to maintain, manage, and put away. When I have more time, I can spend it with those I love, teaching my children to go forward and be decent humans. Or spend the time helping others, volunteering for a good cause, in church or in prayer.
I want to thank the person who left the comment, it was eye opening. And really made me think more about why I started this journey in the first place. It isn’t so I can have a clean home (although that is a perk). I started it so I can spend more time with those I love, so I can help others, be less wasteful, consume less, make room for prayer, and be more intentional in my life. Which will ultimately help me follow Him more readily.
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YES! Thanks for writing this! It’s exactly what I’d like to say if only I could put it together so nicely.
HI Ann Marie! First off, I’m sorry you had to read that awful comment. I know people leave us zingers all the time, but I’m still shoked that someone would leave such a judgmental and hurtful comment, especially without even knowing you or your intentions. You were incredibly graceful in your response. Lent is the perfect time for this kind of challenge and you’ve inspired me to do it for a 3rd year now. But it’s an amazing challenge for anyone (Catholic or not) because we can all so easily find ourselves consumed by our stuff, no matter how we got there. Thank you for all the effort you put into this for everyone and for your sweet spirit that makes your blog such a bright spot to visit.
There will always be folk who get the wrong end of the stick … keep up your good work!
Seeing the connection between this challenge and Lent really helped me. I just saw the documentary ‘Minimalism’ on Netflix and I’m even more inspired to declutter! I have managed to get quite a few friends + on board with 40 Bags in 40 Days which will help me to keep going! I just wrote a bit about the three things I’m doing in Lent, including your challenge, in my blog. Thanks again!
The documentary was so well done and inspiring, eye opening too. I’m excited to read your post, Rachael! Glad to have you joining us. Thank you for sharing with your friends!
I really love this post!!! Well said! Thank you sharing.
Fabulous blog post, Ann Marie! Thanks so much!
This challenge is so apropos for the lent season. So many of us Christians get hung up in the religious aspect of Christianity instead of what God intended for us to be our calling and the relationship that should grow out of having Jesus as our personal savior. I am sooo happy to have found this challenge at exactly this time. I am so ready to begin this challenge because I know its in line with what God has purposed in my life at this time.
I’m traveling a few days during Lent, can I prestige some bags for those days?
Yep! Make them up on other days if you can, or do what you can while traveling. Delete emails, uncluttered your notifications, clean up phone photos, etc. Hope that helps!
If God made the world and all of creation, then the way we respond to what he has made is surely of interest to him, especially if we take more than our fair share, and in this way deprive others of what is theirs to have. Thank you so much for this challenge and for bringing God into it. I am looking forward to making this part of my Lenten fast.
As a Catholic who will be observing Lent for the first time in many years, I commend you for what you’re doing — in fact, you’ve encouraged me to “give up” a bag of donations every day for the next 40 days. It is most certainly in the spirit of the season. Some people need and angry, judgmental God because they have angry, judgmental hearts. Glad to see the comment didn’t get you down.
Beautiful response Anne Marie…You may be interested to also take a look at the 40acts campaign, which originated in the UK, which is about giving out rather than giving up.
I will, thank you! Sounds beautiful.
I talked about this challenge on Sunday as part of my children’s message in worship. As a child, I was taught to “give up” something for Lent, and instead, give the money I would have spent on the item to our special Easter offering. I explained that this year I was beginning with this challenge to not only give up items for Lent, but to really look at how much I waste in my life, and to see how I can better spend the money (and time) on other things and people. We continued the discussion in our class time, using a simple story about Francis of Assisi as an example of someone who decided to live a simple life.
Well said. I totally agree. I mean what a perfect time – the act of clearing things out shouldn’t only apply to a “tidy home” or “spring cleaning” as that person so quickly judged – after all Spring IS a season of rebirth and new growth. I applaud you for your words and am excited to take on this challenge as a person who strives every year to be a better Catholic – and ever more so a recovering potential hoarder. :-( THANK YOU
I totally did not feel offended and I am most definitely a Christian women. When I saw that it said to give up your unused items to charity it seem right in line with the spirit of Christ. I am excited and have encouraged many in my own church family to do this. The time is perfect for us because our church holds an annual yard sale and all the money raised helps the teens to go to a camp I grew up attending….a christian camp that many children accept Christ for the first time. I love knowing that as I work to do this over the next forty days that my items will lead to helping making a trip to Camp Cowen a reality and perhaps that one child that has no one at home sharing the gospel with them will get to see it there!
You should also read Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 for Lenten commitment in relation to things other than just fasting. I especially like 19-21: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Our church gives us a commitment sheet with choices for almsgiving, prayer, and fasting to help guide us in our Lenten journey. Beside the choice “Give up_____” I wrote in STUFF.
Thank you for your blog. Yes, I agree with you. It has hit me more since I had to “clean out” my parent’s house. When I was younger, we always recycled, that was before it was popular. However, my mother went through the depression in a very depressing (no pun intended) way. She hoarded things like toilet paper, soups, paper towels, soap: both laundry and bath, and much more. I have since tried to get our house not so cluttered. I find with time, however, I begin to collect things. I love crafts, my craft room is a mess. I find that I tend to see really good craft products, which I don’t need right away, and buy them: “For when I might need them”. Sometimes I never do. I can go on and on, but I won’t. I also feel that Jesus wouldn’t want me to carry so much either. Our son and daughter in law live intentionally with just as much as they need. They want to follow the example of Jesus. Thank you, again, for getting my mind back to where it belongs.
I am so glad you wrote about the spiritual aspect of this. I find that all the clutter distracts me from focusing on God. Being ADHD doesn’t help! Getting rid of clutter is a spiritual issue for me.
Ann Marie, I loved what you wrote and I so agree with you. Our possessions, as blessed as we are, take a lot of time and energy to manage. Keep up the great work!
Anne Marie, beautifully said. Well done.
I’ve been getting boxes together and bags. It makes me feel as if I’m “lightening our load”. Since I’ve started, I’ve gotten sick, shingles. It’s been difficult, but sitting down and going through boxes and getting rid of things that we haven’t used in YEARS! The only room that really needs to be done with me really working is my craft room. I’m hoping that the shingles will go away soon. If not, it will be done later. I’m thankful for this time of Lent. It’s made me think of Christ telling his disciples to go and preach and only take a cloak. I like less.. Thank you, Anne Marie for helping me see this.
You’re welcome, Carol. I’m so glad it has helped you. I hope you feel better soon!
Thank you. Thank you for being an inspiration to us.
When I saw it last year I saw it as spiritual practice. A physical way to simplify with a concrete “goal.” Your words are clear and we’ll written. I hope your “doubter” sees it. Thank you.
In addition, we wear new clothes at Easter to signify “new life” that the Lord bestowed upon all of His believers. 40 bags/40 days is where we shed our old and bring in a “new life” as in changing our habits and our ways of living. Living without excess by sharing of our goods or through monetary means to those less fortunate.