Monday, February 15, 2010

Toss It

My wife was inspired today to begin to toss stuff. I like it when she gets tired of keeping stuff around that we no longer use or even know we have. She bags it up and sends it to the curb.

As I looked through the pile of stuff (the reason I looked through it was because the trash bags holding it tore), I was reminded of how much junk we keep that we don't use. Many of the items had funny stories behind them. Some of the things were a complete mystery to me and I wondered what they were doing in our home.

It is good to take stock from time to time and consider what is needed and what is not. Anything that could have been useful like clothes, good books, or training materials I would have passed on to others. This was simply stuff that was taking up space that we do not have, which makes room for whatever else is next. I have a sense that Asher's toys will begin to find their way into those places and be the next to go.

Everything has its time and when its time is up, it needs to go.

I find plenty of parallels to my wife's activity today in life. There are some relationships that need to go. There are some ideas that need to go. There are some philosophies and attitudes that need to go. There are some habits and hangups that need to go. There are some ministries that need to go. There are things that are just taking up space that need to go.

So what needs to go in your life?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Your blog really made me think . . . there certainly are things in our lives that need to go. Anything in my life that does not bring God glory probably needs to go (1 Cor.10:31). The only problem is that it so much easier to toss stuff we don’t want and clean our houses than it is to rid ourselves of unholy relationships, ideas, philosophies, attitudes, habits and hang-ups. These things that hinder our walk with Christ usually have such a hold on us that they are not easily tossed. They won’t easily go. They are strongholds that need to be demolished. II Cor.10:3-5 tells us that we will have to fight these things with weapons that have divine power. There are many weapons of spiritual warfare – I would probably begin my fight using prayer, the word of God, perseverance, self-control . . . and maybe fasting if I get too much resistance. Today is the start of Lent, a good time to begin some spiritual house cleaning.