When Enough Becomes Extra

I have been cleaning out the She Shed.

Which means I have been learning things about myself that apparently required several years of archaeological layering to uncover. 😂

I am not a hoarder in the television-show sense of diagnoses.

There are no mountains of trash or mystery creatures living unnoticed among the clutter. In fact, the roach that appeared during the cleanout nearly sent me into orbit because he was very clearly out of place and needed immediate eviction.

But I do have a lifelong tendency to keep things.

Useful things.

Pretty things.

Things I might need later.

Things I could do something creative with.

Things that were on sale.

Things that still have value.

Things I used once and might use again.

And because I like organization, a lot of it has been neatly tucked away leading to an obsession with containers. That is how archaeological layering happens. You put one useful thing in a box. Then another thing gets stacked in front of it. Then another layer goes on top. Eventually, you still sort of know it exists, but it is no longer accessible enough to serve you. 

I found craft supplies I had forgotten about. Extras from old projects. Things bought for future projects. Even gifts I purchased intentionally for someone but they were buried so deeply that when the occasion came, I forgot I had them, or was unable to access them easily and bought something else.

The problem was not that any of those things were bad. The problem was that somewhere along the way, keeping them started to feel like security.

What if I need this later?

What if I throw it away and then have to buy another one?

What if Future Amy needs it?

The truth is my she shed has become somewhat of a wilderness.... A place where things have gone with purpose and a plan that has become lost. And it makes me think of all the things that I have stored in comparison to God's provision of manna. 

When the Israelites were in the wilderness, God provided food every morning.

Enough for the day.

And He told them not to keep extra overnight.

Some did anyway.

Exodus says:

“However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell.”

— Exodus 16:20

They had enough. But enough did not feel as safe as extra. I understand that.

Extra feels prepared. Extra feels responsible. Extra feels like one less thing to worry about tomorrow.

But God was teaching them something deeper. He would provide for today.

And tomorrow, when tomorrow became today, He would provide again.

And I love that on the day before the Sabbath, God did tell them to gather extra. That manna did not spoil. So this was never about condemning being prepared. It was about trusting God enough to gather according to His instruction instead of according to their fear. He was teaching them to depend on Him instead of on themselves. 

So I keep asking myself as I uncover layers of years of wanting to be prepared:

Am I keeping this because it is wise stewardship of my time and my space, or am I keeping this because having it makes me feel safer about tomorrow?

Jesus says:

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”

— Matthew 6:34

That does not mean tomorrow does not matter. It means I do not have to carry all of tomorrow today. 

And for someone who likes to feel prepared, that is a real challenge.

Especially when I can look at almost anything and think:

I could do something with that.

But I am learning that sometimes the most wasteful thing I can do with something useful is bury it in storage for five years.

If I cannot see it, access it, remember it, or use it, then it is not really serving me or anyone else. It is just taking up space.

And strangely, the more physical clutter I remove, the lighter my mind feels too.

My family used to use the phrase about useless information not having a 'pocket in our minds'. We used it to describe hearing information that was unnecessary. We would hear it but we would not store it for long term retrieval. And the response would be "I don't have a pocket for that." Honestly every piece of clutter or extra that I have collected and stored has taken up a pocket in my mind even if I'm not actively accessing the information. And many times when I feel overwhelmed it is not because of activity or current calendar items it's because my pockets are all full.

Every purge reminds me that the space the items are taking up is not just in my she shed. They are holding a place in my mind too... Filling all of my free space with useful potential items has filled all of my mental load pockets with the heavy burden of my unused potential. What is surprising is that every pocket of 'someday potential' that I empty actually opens space and I feel more creative. More motivated. More capable of seeing what I actually have and what I actually want to do with what remains. 

Sometimes release is stewardship too.

Jesus tells another story in Luke 12 about a man who built bigger barns to hold everything he had.

The problem was not solved by building bigger barns (or buying more containers 🫣.) 

The problem was in where the man placed his security for the future.

Jesus says:

“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

— Luke 12:15

And that is where this gets personal.

Because abundance does not have to look like money. Sometimes it looks like craft supplies. Décor. Wrapping paper. Books. Sentimental things. Clearance finds. Clothes. Things that still have value. Things I might need someday.... 

None of those things are inherently wrong.

But they cannot give me the security I am sometimes asking them to provide.

So in the she shed clean out and in the upcoming annual purge I will not be asking my usual question:

Do I have room for this?

I will be asking more meaningful questions:

What am I asking this thing to do for me?

Preserve a memory? Guarantee a future possibility? Keep me from ever needing something later? Prove the money I spent was not wasted? Make me feel prepared?

Those are better questions. And certainly, sometimes keeping something is wise. But, sometimes letting it go is wiser.

Sometimes its value is greater in someone else’s hands than it is sitting forgotten in the back of my She Shed.

That is not waste. That is release.

Jesus taught us to pray:

“Give us today our daily bread.”

— Matthew 6:11

Daily bread.

Not extra bread today so I never have to trust Him to provide again.

Daily Bread

God’s provision is not buried underneath years of stored-up possibilities.

He is still providing.

Today.

And He will provide again tomorrow. And He will provide the next day. 

So yes, I am keeping some things. Of course I am. I am still me. 😂 I still craft occasionally and I can see the things at the top of the archaeological pile that are used often and frequently enough to store. 

But I am also donating, tossing, releasing, and making room .... Emptying pockets that I didn't even know were full. Giving myself room to focus on what matters most and not just on what needs to be done so that I can focus. 

And with every layer that disappears, the space gets lighter, brighter, and more useful. And so do I.

Enough is good.

Preparation is good.

Stewardship is good.

But sometimes extra stops serving us and quietly starts asking us to serve it. When that happens, maybe it is time to remember the manna.

God gave enough.

And then He gave enough again. 

I sometimes joke about living as a hoarder in recovery... But it is lessons like this one that I have learned over the years that helped me to recognize that my behavior is rooting in something deeper than the things that I keep... Hoarding is usually not about tangible objects. Filling all of my free space and all of my pockets with unused potential becomes deceptive to my actual productivity and identity. Putting all jokes aside, living in recovery is a constant battle of letting go of my independence and my insecurities that tell me I need to provide a personal ROI. I do not need a storehouse full of unused items defining who I am or setting my value or potential. Letting go of the things I have accumulated physically and mentally is a necessary and daily surrender to fully trusting in God to provide all that I need. And ultimately it frees up my mind (and space) to be more present, more creative, and less wasteful. 

Oh, the irony! 

What are you holding onto because it is genuinely useful — and what might you be keeping simply because letting it go requires trusting that God will provide what you need when you need it?

Lord, thank You for the ways You provide for me every day. Give me wisdom to know what to keep, what to prepare, and what to release. Show me where stewardship has quietly turned into fear, and help me trust that You will still be faithful tomorrow. Teach me to receive what You provide with gratitude, use it well, and hold everything else with open hands. Amen.

Until next time, keep following the Plott, and I will be praying for us all. 💛

This image is 100% AI-generated... haha... It is my stuff, my furniture... and even my shed dimensions... but never, NOT ONCE, has my shed ever looked like this. I will update you if it ever does! <3