Out with the Old, In with the New!

I am terribly embarrassed to post the picture above, but I must in order to give y'all a "picture" of what I am talking about. This represents all the junk that we have cleaned out and getting rid of. We even had people to stop yesterday and dig through it like it was a "junk store" open for business. To my amazement they found some things they thought worthy of salvaging.

JB has been off all week, so we followed through with our plans of "cleaning out" and starting the new year clutter free. We spent all day yesterday cleaning our closets (both bottom and top), toy boxes, cabinets, my sewing room and the garage. Today JB is cleaning out and organizing the storage room within our garage. It's shameful the amount of stuff we accumulate. It is also a reminder of just how much we are not in need of anything. However, we had to do this in order to make room for all the new toys that will one day become the same junk as pictured above.

My motto when cleaning out was "if I didn't realize that it was there, it's gone." It's sad that I didn't even remember some of the junk that I had stored away. Some had been stored since we moved here 3 years ago. If I haven't missed it by now, I definitely didn't need it.

It was comical watching Waste Management pick up our stuff. It was so much, that the driver had to get out and help. They both shook their heads in either frustration, amusement or dread at having to "deal with" our version of a junk yard. I saw them as I peeked through our blinds, too embarrassed to let them see me watch. Although, the boys stood at the glass door and watched with amazement as they said "bye bye stuff".

I must admit that watching all that junk leave my care, left me feeling relieved, accomplished and somewhat refreshed. It reminds of the times I have left my sins at the altar for God to "through them away". What an awesome thought that is, that our Savior rids us of all sins (junk, trash, clutter, garbage) when we ask of His forgiveness. And just like all the garbage I threw away, it won't be remember. As Casting Crowns sings, it's as far as the east is from the west. Where Christ throws my sins away is as unknown to me as where my trash will end up. And as another song states, "your sins are erased, they are no more, they're out on the ocean floor". (Well, hopefully my trash doesn't end on the ocean floor, but you get the point.) As we no longer have to deal with the
material trash in our house, we no longer have to deal with the trash in our hearts and lives that keep us from feeling refreshed, revitalized, and redeemed when we give it to Christ and repent. And to know that the beginning of redemption all began with the birth of Jesus Christ in which we just celebrated through the Christmas season.

This new year, may you find your hearts, lives and homes to be clutter free...both of material trash and sins that keep you feeling guilty and unworthy.

Until next time, HB