Have you ever seen the movie The Shining by Stephen King? This picture from the movie shows how I am feeling today.

I usually start cleaning my house before Passover but after 13 years in the same house and 2 kids, the accumulating clutter is out of control.

I started cleaning today and after a while I found it hard to breathe. I felt like I was being suffocated by stuff, when I finally became aware of the cause I couldn’t believe I was a slave to these objects.

I knew there was a saying that “the more stuff you own, the more the stuff owns you” but I never knew what that meant until I experienced it for myself. I used to live in that world of materialism, to base my worth on how much stuff I own but age and time have brought me a new understanding and I don’t want all this stuff anymore.

No wonder God asked us not to covet, because these things have no value and actually steal your life away from you. All the money you spend on stuff that doesn’t matter takes money away from the things that do matter.

Some lessons are hard to learn and only when you are at your wit’s end do you finally see the truth.