De-Cluttering

Do you have one of those places in your home that catches all the clutter?  That never, ever, ever seems to be neat and tidy?  I guess we all probably do.  In my case, it's the breakfast bar.  I'm not sure why it's called that.  We never eat breakfast there.  Or any other meal, for that matter.  There are some stools lined up neatly under the bar.  Nobody ever sits on them.  They seem to be there to catch the overflow of clutter!

This bar is really a nuisance!  At least that's my opinion!  (And that's the one that matters around here, right???!!!)  It comes in handy at Thanksgiving or Christmas and other similar occasions when there are extra people and extra food.  Nobody eats there at those times, but it's a handy place to put all the extra food.

Other times of the year it's just a clutter-magnet.  The place where everything gets deposited.  And it's almost impossible to keep neat and tidy.  I had it nicely cleaned off yesterday afternoon.  And then Al came home and started depositing more "stuff" there.  I said to him....."this was clean until you came home."  He smiled.

This morning I cleaned it off.  Again.  It's a never-ending process.  And as I was cleaning, it occurred to me that this cluttered bar is a good metaphor for what goes on in our minds.  Keeping our minds decluttered is a never-ending process, isn't it?  But such an important process.  After all, "as a man [or a woman!] thinketh in his heart, so he is" says Proverbs 23:7.

And there's also that maxim "Garbage In, Garbage Out".  Doesn't sound quite so spiritual when put that way, does it?  But it's the same truth.

Keeping our hearts and minds decluttered is a challenge, isn't it?  We're bombarded daily with all kinds of information,  all kinds of temptations, all kinds of stimuli that fill our minds almost to over-flowing.  And as in the case of my breakfast bar, if we aren't diligent to declutter, to weed out and dispose of the clutter, then the clutter takes over and the task becomes much more difficult.

It's hard to find balance in our information-overload world.  On the one hand, we need to be informed about news events and political events in order to make wise decisions and in order to stand for what is right.  On the other hand, a steady diet of news channels and politics can really drag you down, can't it?

We're bombarded on television and in magazines and in the check-out lines at the supermarket with advertisements and celebrity "news" (there's an oxymoron for you!) and all kinds of other stuff that is mostly clutter.  But if we aren't careful, that clutter can take over.

The challenge, I think, is to be diligent about the de-cluttering process.  To be diligent about feeding our minds with what is good so that there isn't room for the clutter.  To be careful about who and what we pay attention to. To "take every thought captive to obey Christ."  (2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV)

It's a daily, ongoing process.  Otherwise the clutter takes over.  And who wants that?

"Finally, brothers [and sisters!], whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if  there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."         (Philippians 4:8 ESV)