Bigger Barns

As elderly folks relocate to assisted living or nursing homes it is often up to the children and grandchildren to dispose of their lifetime collections. My 94-year-old mother-in-law, who just moved in with us, is in remarkably good shape for her age. While we physically moved her possessions, we are leaving it up to her to sort, discard, save, or give away her treasures. She continues to say, “Why do we save stuff? Why did I keep all these things?” I’m reminded of the parable about the rich fool. The man produced a good crop, but lacked storage space, “He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods” (Luke 12:17-18 NIV). The fool’s life was demanded of him that night, so not only was all his planning for naught, others were left to either benefit from, or dispose of, what he had prepared for himself.