Thinking About Clutter

On Monday mornings my thoughts often turn to clutter. Around here Monday mornings are generally devoted to laundry and decluttering, so it's natural that I would have that on my mind this morning.  Monday mornings are a time for putting out the garbage, for putting things back in their places, for getting rid of old newspapers and any other unnecessaries, and for getting a good start on the week ahead.

On many Monday mornings, all this decluttering has me thinking about clutter in general.  Today is one of those days.

This morning the garbage was picked up.  The laundry is begun. Clutter from the weekend has been cleared away.  Maybe it's the same at your house.

It occurs to me that it's much easier to deal with physical clutter, although that is often quite challenging, than it is to deal with the stuff that clutters our minds.

Last week I spent some time cleaning out our closet and our bathroom cabinets.  I got rid of a lot of stuff that was no longer useful or needed.  Worn-out shoes.  Clothes that no longer fit. A past-its-prime toothbrush.  Stuff that is no longer useful and had become just more clutter.

Sometimes it's a challenge to determine what to hold on to and what to let go.  I can't make decisions about what to let go of in your closet.  But here are a few ideas about what to hold on to.

Hold on to your memories.

Memories are precious things.  If you've been in the position of watching someone you love lose their memory to Alzheimer's, as I have, then you are aware of what a treasure the memory is.  We can't hold on to every photograph or ticket stub or souvenir; for most of us, space doesn't permit that. Nor do we want to become so anchored to those memories that we miss life in the present.  But we can treasure the memories! Revisit them from time to time.  Share them with others.  Enjoy them!

I often find myself wishing I knew more about my parents or my grandparents in their early years.  Wishing I had asked them more questions.  Wishing I had listened more closely to the stories they told.  Some day our children may feel the same. Share your memories and the stories of your family history so it can be passed on from generation to generation.

Hold on to relationships.

In our culture, it's all about the stuff.  All about how much we can accumulate.  All about what kind of car we drive or what kind of house we live or what kind of electronic devices we have.  It's all about our technology.

I sat in my doctor's waiting room on Friday, and as I looked around, I realized every single person in that waiting room was staring at their phone.  There was no conversation.  Not even any eye-contact.  Just staring at the phone.

Look around at your next family gathering.  Are people talking to each other, or are they glued to their electronic devices?  We need to make an effort to reverse this trend in our culture!  People are important!  Let's never lose sight of that.

Relationships matter.  And nothing is more important in developing and holding on to our relationships than personal interaction.  Texting and tweeting can never take the place of the human voice.  Of actual conversation.  Of real sentences that are more than 40 characters in length.  Of a smile or a hug.  Don't let technology rob you of what's most important.

Hold on to Jesus.

Our culture would seek to marginalize or trivialize our Christian faith.  Christians in our culture are often viewed as weak or out of touch or not terribly bright.  Even so, our relationship with Jesus is the most important of all our relationships.  It's a relationship that must be held on to, cherished, and nurtured.

How do we do that?  The same way it has always been done.  By spending time with Him in prayer (conversation).  By spending time with Him in Bible study (getting to know Him).  And by fellowship with other believers (church attendance).  These are the building blocks of growing our relationship with Jesus and of holding on to that relationship.

A relationship where there is no communication doesn't last long, does it?  It's hard to have a relationship with someone you don't know, isn't it?  A "lone-ranger" relationship isn't really a relationship, is it?

Know your priorities.

When we're decluttering around the house, we get rid of things that no longer are useful or have value to us.  We are able to do this because we understand what does have value.

The same principle holds true in our relationships, particularly as concerns our relationship with the Lord. When we know our values and our priorities, we are more easily able to clear our minds of things that don't line up with those values and priorities.  We are able to declutter our minds based on these priorities.

And what is the priority for the Christian?

"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness."  (Matthew 6:33a NASB)

Take action.

I cleaned out my closet.  I got rid of the clothes that didn't fit, the purses I never use, the shoes that were worn out.

I cleaned out my bathroom cabinet.  I decluttered it by disposing of the empty mascara tubes, the eye shadows I didn't even like, the empty lotion bottles, the worn-out toothbrush.

The same thing needs to happen for you and for me in our thinking.  We need to get rid of the clutter.  We need to toss out anything that doesn't line up with our priorities.  No matter what the voices of culture would tell us we need to be thinking about or what our opinions should be in order for us to be politically correct, we need to make certain that our thinking is lined up with the plumb line of the Word of God.

Today would be a good day to start doing some decluttering.

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus......"  (Hebrews 12:1-2a, NASB, emphasis mine)