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Friends United Meeting |
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November 2003
Thoughts on Simplicity While Shredding Paper
By Nancy Thomas
After more than 75 years of service, the Friends Mission officially pulled out of Bolivia last year, leaving behind a national church of over 200 congregations with its own leadership, forms and finances. Hal and I remain, but on loan to an evangelical university. One of our last tasks as Friends missionaries in Bolivia is deciding what to do with 75 years of mission files.
It's a daunting task. The first phase requires that we decide what to keep, which basically comes down to legal documents and records that have historical significance: correspondence, yearly financial reports, minutes, working agreements and so on.
After this comes the minutia. Reams of minutia, from multiple mimeographed copies of some class a missionary gave, to receipts for bottles of aspirin. We've decided to shred the minutia, bag it and let the municipal garbage service haul it off. I'm the shredder and bagger. It's giving me time for reflection. As the machine hums, so does my mind. Here are some of my thoughts.
Memories — As I shred I remember. All these pieces of paper were connected to real people and situations. While shredding the financial worksheets for the 1980s, I noted the rapid changes in the exchange rate. On a document for 1987, scrawled in pencil across the top was the exchange of 2,647,900 pesos to the dollar. I remember hauling bags of paper money; I remember the chaos, the fear and the losses people suffered. Prescriptions and receipts remind me of Vicente and Arturo, Friends pastors who literally gave their lives in the service of the gospel.
Integrity — As I shred, I am again impressed by a testimony of financial integrity. Down through the years, the mission accounted for everything. Each tiny receipt or purchase was recorded, categorized and integrated into monthly and annual reportsÑall worked out by hand and then typed with carbon copies. All receipts, worksheets (in large yellow notebooks) and semi-final reports were kept for posterity (me). So much integrity almost overwhelms.
Trees — I look out the window as I work, admiring the paradise tree across the street. I think of all the trees sacrificed to maintain all that financial integrity. Of course most of this record-keeping was BC (before computers). Hopefully now fewer trees need to be cut down.
Garbage or Treasure? — I note how one person's garbage can be another person's treasure. This last week I've observed how the bags of shredded paper in front of our gate almost always disappear before the garbage truck arrives. Apparently a local industry is finding this stuff useful as packing material. It's cheaper than plastic bubbles. This makes me feel a little better about the trees.
Simplicity feels good — As the accumulation of paper lessens, I feel relief. Whether it's clearing out closets or refrigerators, raking leaves, cleaning my desktop, simplifying my schedule or re-ordering my priorities, the resulting sense of lightness and rightness makes it worth the effort.
Simplicity is complicated — That's a great oxymoron. None of this is easy or automatic. Simplicity is not so simple. To let the stuff in my files or on my desk accumulate takes no effort whatsoever. Bringing order out of chaos does. It requires time, energy, organization, wisdom and even generosity, a willingness to give away what might be useful to someone else.
Where our treasure is — Where our treasure is, there will our heart be. Jesus said that. And our treasure should be invested in things that remain. As I sit here shredding paper, I pray. "Lord, help me give my heart to things that are permanent. And show me what they are." To my mind come images of worship, gratitude, relationships, a glass of grape juice given to my grandson in Jesus' name, a word of encouragement to my neighbor. Things that leave no paper trail, sacrifice no trees — but that build for eternity.
These are great ideas. I really must write them down and file them away somewhere.
Nancy is serving in Santa Cruz at the Universidad Evangelica Boliviana with the Bolivia Friends Mission.
Copyright (c) 2003 Friends United Meeting
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