It's over.
For all the talk of beginnings on the blog this week this one is about endings. My forty day journey of purging and blogging comes down to this - one final figure and one final blog. Well actually that's not entirely true - I will be continuing this blog at a much slower pace now that Lent is over but I will not be selling anymore Transformers. My home collection (the target of this purging) now only contains one solitary figure that I had when this journey started plus one very tiny Optimus Prime toy (legends class for those of you in the know) that my boys gave me as a birthday present partway through Lent. My office is still chocked-full of toys so don't feel too bad but I have parted ways with 48 figures over the past number of weeks and most of them have been featured on this blog.
Today's figure brings a bit of balance to the whole journey as I finish today with the same character that I started with 40 days of Lent ago - the iconic Optimus Prime. This is Deluxe Class Generations War For Cybertron Optimus Prime. I talked all about the WFC continuity in yesterday's post so I won't retread the same ground today but suffice it to say this figure has one of the most intricate and non-intuitive transformation schemes that I have seen in a toy this size. When I first get a transformer - if I open the package - the first thing I do is attempt to transform it without looking at the instructions. It's kind of a personal challenge that I leave for myself to see if I still have some of the reasoning and problem solving skills that I did when I was a kid. Very few toys have mastered me over the years - this one came close.Aside from it's challenging and rewarding transformation scheme it is also a wonderful representation of the Video Game character model. It looks good, it's fun to transform and it's Optimus Prime - what's not to like.
So it is with that sort of sad symmetry that I finish my Lenten journey victorious. And I guess the question remains - what have I learned? Well I have discovered that the things that I keep around me that I think I "need" or sometimes am self-aware enough to know that I desperately "want" don't bring me real happiness. In fact has hard as it has been to say goodbye to these figures I've gotten a simple joy out of seeing them go that I could not have expected. It's not just about clearing space in the storage room, and it's not just about raising money for Impact Ministries - it's about feeling God calling you to do something challenging and then finding that He empowers you to do that difficult thing. It has birthed (but certainly not yet brought to maturity) in me a desire to give and he has given me opportunities to be even more generous with these toys than the extent of my commitment obligated me to. I have also learned that I have a lot of "stuff" and that stuff that serves no purpose or brings no joy is not "stuff" that I need to keep around. Sometimes parting with the stuff is a matter of pragmatics or economics rather than charity (I'm selling my electric guitar that never gets played to pay for Jo's new computer - not to feed starving children) but it feels good to know that I'm not being controlled by the need to acquire or accumulate that "stuff" as much as I used to be.
At the end of this journey I know that I am still ridiculously filthy and unjustifiably rich. That God has blessed me beyond my ability to comprehend it and that my first and most important response is to be grateful. I have learned that when God calls us to do little things (by the world's standards) he can still accomplish big things - and that sharing this story has been a great opportunity to have meaningful spiritual discussions with people.
In the end, it's all been more than worth it. Thank you to those of you who have been journeying along with me through these forty days of Lent. It's been encouraging to know that I have had people cheering me on and praying for me throughout the process. Thanks also to those who have taken a stab at the auction block and have been bidding on these toys for a good cause - even if you have no real desire to own them yourselves. I've appreciated the support. Next week I will post the total amount raised and let you know how I plan on giving it to Impact Ministries. Until then though - this is the end. Check out the Auction links below - we're in the last 24 hours now and see if you would be interested. And remember - this may be the ending, but tomorrow is Sunday, and Sunday is only the beginning...
Chris
AUCTION LINKS
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