The Great Garage Clean-Out

I have declared today "The Great Garage Clean-Out of 2011". Our garage is out of control with stuff. Some stuff that needs to go, some that needs to stay, as well as dead leaves, spider webs, and some other gross stuff.

Even though I would have liked to go at this alone, my husband fears my purging skills and wants to participate. So I'm looking on the bright side: our little one is away at his grandparents house so we can have some uninterrupted time together. Plus he's great at heavy lifting. :)

I've been excited about this garage clean-out because I, honestly, just enjoy organizing and ridding our life of unused and unnecessary clutter. I'm not a stuff person. Just not my personality. But this morning, as I sip my coffee in a quiet house and catch up on a few blogs, I came across this post on material things. These two passages really hit home in a new and fresh way.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens...a time to keep and a time to throw away.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1, 6

This is the perfect mediator verse for my husband and I today. It reminds me that it's not always time to get rid of something and I need to be more sensitive to my husband's needs of wanting to keep his stuff, even if I deem it unnecessary. I'm hoping it will remind him to know when it is time to part with some things.

Do not store up your treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will also be your heart. 

Matthew 6:19-21

This verse stepped on my toes big time. Although my purging actions may have good intentions & consequences, my motives aren't exactly focused where they need to be. My focus should be eternal, storing my true treasures in the Lord and His heavenly kingdom. While I do think this in my mind, my actions do not always show such focus. I've spent more time with my sewing machine this week than with my Bible or in prayer combined. I've been reading a new library book each evening, but haven't cracked open my Bible for a morning quiet time in a while. Let's not even think about the time I spent reading blogs... So, I have to ask myself, where is my heart & my true treasure? 


I do think it's necessary that I add a little disclaimer. The items in our possession are not necessarily bad things. In fact, I would say they are often very good things, things we are meant to enjoy. However, as our pastor likes to remind us, man tends to take good things and make them ultimate things. We cross the line when we find our identity in how big a certain collection is, the latest electronics filling our house, the neighborhood we live in, the kind of cars we drive, career success, or even how spectacular our children are, instead of finding our identity as a follower of Christ. Take a moment to think about your life and what it is filled with. How do you define yourself? Do your actions and motives reflect that self-definition? Don't let those be rhetorical questions.


Sometimes I find the Lord's whispers a bit hard to discern, so I'm truly thankful when He speaks so loud & clear in such a simple, yet profound way.