Clutter

I feel like my house is getting to that point where I either need to get rid of a bunch of stuff or go crazy. It seems like every room has an excess of stuff it, especially the kids rooms. And thinking about adding more stuff to our house through all the birthdays and Christmas we have coming up makes me feel like undertaking a serious purge of unnecessary things.

Figuring out what is unnecessary is the tricky part though. Which unfinished projects have a realistic chance of being finished? How many pie pans do you keep around when you only make pie a few times a year but when you do it is usually 3 for 4 at once? How many tubs of kid clothes do you keep when you still have kids growing in to them but you are running out room store any more? Which books do you get rid of when you can’t fit anymore on your shelf?

I know compared to a lot of houses I have been in my house really isn’t very cluttery, but for some reason the clutter I do have has really been bugging me.

Another challenge to clutter is finding the time to get rid of it. If you try to de-clutter a kids room while the kid is around suddenly all the things they never play with become their favorite toy. And for ever closet that is cleaned out there is a mess that has to be cleaned up and a few bags of stuff that need to me gotten rid of.

But I don’t think there are many things I enjoy more that looking at a freshly decluttered room or closet. So I am going to try and go through my house in the next few weeks and get rid of a bunch of stuff. Wish me luck!

Grandpa Thompson

Michael’s grandfather passed away this week and it has been making me think about how our lives affect those around us.

It is easy to see how some people’s lives affect and influence those around them. A great teacher can positively influence the lives of hundreds of children. Inspire them to believe in themselves and do more with their lives than they thought they could. The choices made by the leaders of our country have an affect that spreads to millions of people. People like Martin Luther King and William Tyndale did amazing things with their lives and truly made the world a better place.

But most people won’t have the opportunity to be a president, lead a civil rights movement or teach hundreds of children. The sphere of people that we have an impact may seem much smaller. It may seem like what we do does not matter as much as a more “important” persons actions might. This idea is wrong.

The grandpa Thompson that I knew was a quiet person. He was always there at family gatherings. He didn’t say much unprompted, but if you sat down beside him he was happy to talk. Grandpa didn’t have good vision but he won card games amazingly often. He liked to hold his new great-grandchildren for a few minutes and admire them. Grandpa and Grandma Thompson raised five children in a two bedroom home. The same home he lived in until he passed away. Grandpa worked at Hill Air force base for 37 years. He was a good father and husband and a good person. I never heard him say an unkind thing about another person.

You might think that a quiet person who lived within the same ten mile radius his whole life might not have had a big impact on the world. It would be easy to assume that his sphere of influence was somewhat limited. But I don’t think this is true. I can see Grandpa’s reserved personality in Michael. Michael would much rather sit back and observe a conversation than have to think of something to contribute to it. I can see Grandpa’s smile in my brother-in-law who also shares his name.

Grandpa and Grandma Thompson raised five good children who have grown up to raise families of there own. He had 20 grandchildren and 24 grandchildren. I’m sure they all have a little bit of Grandpa Thompson in them. He taught his children to love and serve others, values which they passed on to there children. Those children and grandchildren have gone on to be positive influences for countless other people. Like a pebble thrown in a pond.

I don’t think it is possible to measure the impact that a single person has had on the world. But I do know that Grandpa Thompson left a positive one. When those he has left behind think of him it will be with love and desire to leave this world better than we found it. Who could want have any other impact on the world than that?

Four generations: Ray Thompson, Michael Thompson, Ron Thompson and Stephen Thompson (the baby)