By EVA A. HART
I am NOT a hoarder! My daughter begs to differ!
We went through a renovation of our home a few years ago. When she arrived at our house, out to the dumpster she went with boxes of my treasures, and some of hers. “Mama, if you’re not using it anymore we are throwing it out!” was her response to every moan that I uttered as box after box was taken out of the house.
Even my husband, who agreed with her in principle, had a few qualms about decluttering. I watched as newspaper clippings, old magazines, chipped what-nots, pots, and pans, and even some music was taken to the dumpster. With every protest, her retort was the same, “If you don’t use it, you lose it!”
For years I watched the TV show Hoarders. I could not imagine people letting their homes get so cluttered with “useless trash” that it was difficult, if not impossible, to even walk through a room, much less try to live there.
Reality hit me in the face as I saw a huge dumpster filled to the brim with things that we had accumulated in our personal space throughout the years of just living. Imagine my delight as the renovation came to a culmination. The dumpster was removed from the driveway, and we began putting things back together! There were no more cluttered shelves, tables, closets, and drawers. Everything had its place.
Clutter can take its toll on our lives in a spiritual sense also. We may allow ourselves to be cluttered with destructive habits and relationships. Worries, temptations, doubts, and fears creep into our lives, threatening to destroy us. Sometimes day-to-day difficulties disrupt harmony and create cluttered situations with our families, our friends, and within our churches.
I wish that we could declutter our lives just as we can declutter our homes. Wouldn’t we love to take out boxes and bags of fear, dismay, jealousy, anger, worry, and probably many regrets? These things help to destroy our peace. It would be great to just throw these things on the street to be picked up by the garbage patrol.
We can! Jesus makes it possible for us to de-clutter these burdens from our hearts and minds. All we must do is to allow Him to come into our hearts and show us what needs to go and what needs to stay.
As Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Eva A. Hart is the Music Ministry Assistant at First Baptist Church in Jackson, MS.
