The Clutter of Life

The Bible Quizzing team at my church is having a yard sale this Saturday, so I'm helping a friend go through all her closets and her toy room to organize and get rid of things. It's amazing how clutter adds up through the years.

I know tonight I'll be going through my own closets. There's one thing we both agreed on...it's difficult to get rid of things you've had for so long. My husband says it's a "woman thing". I don't agree. I know men who hold on to things. One wife I know recently had her husband go through his drawers...he got rid of an entire trash bag full of socks!!!!! That's a lot of socks!!!

I don't know about you, but I tend to hold onto things for memories sake. This item makes me remember when my husband and I were dating, another item makes me remember the summers my siblings and I spent every year in Texas with my grandparents.

All this clutter got me thinking...it's not only our houses that can get cluttered. I believe our minds and our hearts can get cluttered as well. How? Well, I'm glad you asked!

Our minds can get cluttered with schedules. We have to be here by this time, be there by that time. Dinner has to be cooked at this time, get the kids to bed at this time, and on and on and on.

Our hearts can get cluttered with feelings. This person snubbed me. That person lied to me. Another person didn't invite me to their party. This is the sort of clutter I tend to collect, I must admit.

Just as with a room and a closet, loads of clutter hides the beauty of the area. You can have a beautiful room and never know it due to the excessive clutter. Once you clean it out, you're amazed. This is true with our hearts and minds.

How do we clean the clutter of our hearts and minds? We clean it through prayer and meditation. For our minds. we simply pray that God help us focus on things important. Forget the schedule...if your child wants to spend more time gazing at God's handiwork we call nature, let them. Teach them! So what if it means they go to bed a few minutes later than usual? The important thing is, they spent a few extra minutes with you. This will not be forgotten by them.

For our hearts, we pray that God help us get rid of the bad feelings lying on the shelves of our heart and replace them with better, newer ones. There's a particular girl I always had bad feelings for placed on the shelves of my heart. She didn't invite me to her parties, she didn't talk to me (in fact, she'd walk right by me without so much as a hello). My mother taught me to pray that God would bless her because it's hard to have hard feelings for someone you're praying for. I prayed that prayer, and now on my shelves are feelings of "She's such a strong lady", "She's so beautiful", a "She prays with all her heart...I admire that". We are not friends, but we speak to each other and I always have a smile for her.

I have made a pact to check the rooms of my heart and my mind daily and ask God to help declutter them. I would suggest you do to.

Love as always,
Krystan
The Experimental Housewife