Getting rid of clutter means lesson learned

I wish this could have happened during Advent becuase the analogy would be more profound. But this is the week the wife and I are on vacation and her plans were just a little different from mine. I would much prefer during this octave of Christmas to visit friends, go to a movie, watch lots of football and maybe relax around the house. She instead believes to truly celebrate Christmas properly we must clean out of the attic. You guessed it; she wins:(

So the process begins and before you know it, everything is out on the front porch. How can one accumulate this much stuff? Today, I loaded up the pick up and hauled off all that needed to arrive at it's final resting place; the community landfill. By the way, all you green freaks, back off before you start. They actually weigh your truck going in and coming out to know how much to charge you. We weighed almost 500 lbs. less coming out. 500 lbs. of junk sitting above my head seperated from me by a thin layer of plywood. Disturbing thought. We also hauled all the paper and cardboard to the side yard where we kept a roaring fire going for two days. Etimated weight of all that paper, etc. would be about 200 lbs. When I arrived back home from the landfill, my wife had piled up another 200-300 lbs. of junk that I guess will be trip #2 tomorrow.

Sometimes in our lives we have to make room for newer and better by getting rid of all the clutter and junk. As we reflect on Advent just completed and Christmas, still with us, there is an analogy here. Sometimes, to truly make room in our hearts for better, i.e., Jesus, we need to rid ourselves of all the clutter that prevents us from giving ourselves more fully to Him. Sometimes that clutter prevents us from seeing the Jesus in our brothers and sisters. Therefore, we are called to remove the junk and clutter from our own attics or spare rooms of our faith lives that holds us back from the ever fresh and always new hope and joy that comes from a personal relationship with God made man, Jesus Christ.

This is something we always need to keep working on. Just like we will accumulate clutter once more, we will always find ourselves falling short with clutter like bitterness, unforgiveness, nastiness and emptyness. We must periodically, frequently seems more accurate, make a trip to the landfills that will take away all that clutter and help us make room for hope, peace, joy and understanding. I want my spiritual attic or spare room cleaned out to make more room for my Lord who comes to save me.

Feel like cleaning out your attic this week? I hope so!

Oh yea, Merry Christmas because it is just the 5th day of Christmas!