Un-Decorating

After two weeks of laughter, grandchildren (and their parents!), presents, lots (too many!) of goodies to eat, and all kinds of out-of-my-ordinary-routine activities, everybody has gone home and it's back to "normal".  Whatever "normal" means.  I think I agree with whoever said that normal is just a setting on the dryer! 

I have loved having the house full of family.  Loved having my grandsons around.  Even loved having their dogs!  It has been a glorious two weeks. 

Now it's time for the clean-up.  Time for the un-decorating.  Which is not nearly as much fun as the decorating!  Time to put away all the decorations until next year.  And there's the inevitable cleaning and sorting and organizing that is part of the process.  It would, of course, be much easier to just dump the whole lot into a box, put it in the storage room and close the door.  Out of sight, out of mind.....right??!!  The problem with that scenario is that eventually it still needs to be dealt with.  To just chuck it all into a box now without some sorting and organizing is only delaying the inevitable.  And likely would result in some lost or broken bits as well.

So, I'll take the time to sort it all out properly.  To organize and pack away carefully.  This may take a while, but it will be worth it.

As we're facing this new year with all its uncertainties, the tendency is often to just "dump" all our problems and insecurities and questions into a "box" at the back of our minds, rather than dealing with whatever our issues are.  Perhaps during the decoration clean-up we might also spend a little time thinking about our "stuff"......whatever in our lives that needs some clean-up or some reorganizing.....rather than just continuing to ignore it.

One of the things that made me happiest over this Christmas season was when one of my sons went out a couple of days ago and cut down a tree for us.  That tree had been driving me crazy for a while now.  It was just tall enough to block the view out our front window, yet not tall enough to be useful for shading the porch.  It was mostly a nuisance.  And every time I sat at the table and looked out the window, I was aggravated by that tree.  I am so very glad that aggravation has finally been dealt with.

As we begin this new year, here are a few questions to consider.  What needs to be dealt with in your life? What are you just shoving in a box and not dealing with?  What's blocking your view?

Something to think about.

"casting all your anxieties on Him, because he cares for you."  (1 Peter 5:7 ESV)