Clutter. Or, What Are You Holding On To?

As I sat down yesterday afternoon with my coffee and my laptop to begin work on today's post, my mind turned to clutter. Well, it didn't go directly there immediately. Which is, I suppose fitting, since this is a post about clutter.

When I sat down to organize my thoughts, I began thinking about the end of summer and seasons changing and back-to-school, and I really thought that would be the direction my writing would take. But as I began to think back over the summer, and where the time had gone, and what we had done, my mind then arrived at today's destination: clutter.

We began the summer with some much-needed decluttering and clean-up in the basement. We had boxes and boxes of unused, un-needed "stuff", much of which we had been holding on to for years and years. We had moved it here from Florida. Some of it had been around since we lived in Minnesota. And some had been around even longer than that! It was just in the way. Unnecessary. Cluttering up the basement. And our lives.

As we're coming to the end of the summer, we have just finished up our kitchen countertop refinishing project. And let me say once again how much I love the end result! But the process was messy. And required a lot of clean-up. Even the insides of the kitchen cabinets had a layer of sawdust which needed cleaning away! And that gave opportunity to declutter and reorganize those spaces, and to get rid of lots of unused, unnecessary stuff.

In between, I have been going methodically through all the closets and drawers. Decluttering. Getting rid of stuff. We have made lots of trips to Goodwill this summer! I still have a couple of closets yet to be dealt with. And once they are done, I'm sure Goodwill will be seeing us again!

All of that makes we wonder why we hold on to all that stuff anyway! Is there some genetic predisposition to hoarding? Even as I ask that question, I find myself smiling when I think of Al's parents. They have been married for almost 70 years, more than 55 of those years living in the same small house. There's definitely some clutter there. They don't throw anything away!! Unless it's some insurance policy or other similar paper that needs to be saved. Then they will likely shred it!!

I took a little break in the middle of my writing yesterday to catch up with my blog-reading. I discovered that I'm not the only one with clutter on her mind! Here's one good example, from my friend Melanie:
http://pleasuresforevermoreps1611.blogspot.com/2013/08/clutter-at-center.html#!/2013/08/clutter-at-center.html

As I was thinking about clutter, this question continued to come to my mind: why? Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we hold on to so much stuff we don't need and don't use? Why do we allow ourselves to be so controlled by things? Why do we cling so tightly to our stuff? It clutters up our houses. And it clutters up our minds. Because we become so focused on our stuff and on where to put all our stuff and on taking care of the stuff and on getting more stuff, that we lose sight of what really matters in life. And what really matters isn't stuff!

How can we "fix our minds on Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2 NASB) when we're so preoccupied with stuff? When our minds are already cluttered with all our thoughts about stuff? And that doesn't even take into account the clutter in our minds that comes from thoughts and attitudes that are about anything and everything but Jesus!

Even if we aren't candidates for that TV show Hoarders, wouldn't you agree that most of us here in the United States are much too preoccupied with our stuff? And yes, I recognize that this is definitely a first-world problem!

The question is not just what is cluttering up your home (or your apartment, or your living space?). The question is also what are you allowing to clutter up your heart and mind? I fear that too many of us are like the rich young man in Matthew 19. He had kept all the religious rules, but was unwilling to let go of his possessions. He wanted to keep his stuff.

I'm not saying we should get rid of all our stuff. Or that it is wrong to have stuff, to have possessions. What I am saying is that we should be careful not to be possessed by the stuff. That we shouldn't allow the stuff to clutter our lives, either physically or mentally. That we need to be careful that our priorities are clear. That the stuff is not the most important thing. Steven Curtis Chapman said it well when he penned these words:

I will hold on to the hand of my Savior,
And I will hold on with all my might.
I will hold loosely to things that are fleeting,
And hold on to Jesus,
I will hold on to Jesus for life.

"But seek first the kindgom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Matthew 6:33 ESV)