Possessions: Grain, Plant Material, or Chaff?

Do you find moving painful and exhausting? How does one choose what to keep versus dispose?

During Christmas break I return from Dallas where I am pursuing a Masters of Art in Truth Leadership, to meet my sister at Mom’s house in Nebraska. Our task involves removing the garages’ remaining possessions. My mother remarried December 3, 2011, five years after Dad’s passing; she sells her house while moving in with her husband—a good thing.

The process appears relatively simple; choosing to keep or dispose of items consumes energy if allowed. The physical items contain little value, rather the people and resulting relationships attached to something such as a book or a gift from a distant Christmas or birthday provide value. I picked-up childrens' Christmas books received from great-aunts and grandparents when I was a child. The books remind me of their love as they share their faith with my sister, cousins, and me.

Upon beginning to transfer these books into the save pile, a conscience, convicting bolt of intuition struck. My favorite book, the Bible, instructs us of the chaff burning while preserving the grain. These books, along with other possessions resemble chaff or straw.

Is chaff or straw worthless? No! Grain development and maturation depend upon healthy plant tissue. Grain production mandates healthy, vibrant plant stem, roots, leaves, tissue, chemistry, and cells. Disease, storms, and poor management hinder the plant’s resulting yield. From planting through harvest, the plant’s components serve determinate roles in grain production. Harvest separates the matured grain from plant tissue.

Mature grain possesses abundant nutrient value, used to feed and serve the world directly as food, by-products, or livestock feed. Mature plant tissue often possesses little nutrient value, transforming from plant to chaff, straw, or residue. Farmers manage the chaff by tilling, leaving to deteriorate, or burning this expired plant material. They do not transport expired plant material to the bin, elevator, or any storage (a few rare exceptions exist); it serves no purpose in the grains next stage of use. This practice allows the residue’s use for a new crop, and provides room for new growth.

These books, and many of my possessions, possess the same characteristics as plant material. Their presence enhanced my spiritual and emotional development. They provided valuable soul nutrients during my childhood development. New stages of development required separating from these “plant materials,” advancing to new stages of serving society.

Once separated, the old material became straw in my life; this plant material of books and other items were vital in the past, but not the present or future. Storing or moving these past possessions resembles keeping or storing chaff. The Bible suggests this lacks wisdom.

Either I incorporate my chaff into other lives—enhancing their yields, or dispose to provide room for new growth, new great yields. How do you manage your chaff?

Separate your possessions by grain, living plant material, and chaff.

“Don’t be afraid to be Great—as it all comes down to whom wants it the most.” Bill “Congo” Congleton

Rick E. Meyer
The Life and Soul Agronomist
See, Believe, Achieve Inc.
www.rickEmeyer.com