Life lessons from spring clean up
Posted on April 14, 2010 by Pastor Tom
We gathered up our courage. We locked arms and together went down to face it. We opened the door and tried to stifle a collective scream. But my wife and I charged ahead to tackle one of the most daunting projects of our married life – cleaning out our storeroom! It had gotten a bit too much to open the freezer door while hockey skates dangled in our faces
It was time. So we started with our card boxes. You know, Christmas cards from 18 years ago. It’s amazing how much space 18 years of cards take up. (Why did we keep all of these?). Then there were broken toys; missing pieces; some chewed on (even before we had a dog!). We found old junk that we vowed we would use – 11 years ago.
When the junk began to spread out through our basement the temptation to scream grew worse. What would we do with this stuff? Slowly but surely, garbage and blue filled up. 3 trips to the Salvation Army Thrift Store were made. One trip to the dump got rid of 140 kilograms (308 lbs) of junk. By the end of our four day project you could walk around in our storeroom. Skate blades no longer threatened the face of anyone opening the freezer. You could even have a personal retreat in there, camp out or sleep over! It was hard work, tiring and amazingly satisfying. We also learned a lot.
Like what? First, I learned again that we can accumulate so much stuff that doesn’t last. Items that used to be new and expensive got tossed as junk after 10 or 15 years. Someone once told me some advertisers tell you “the only way to find happiness is to go somewhere or buy something.” That’s not true! Cleaning out all that stuff stamped that truth deeper on my heart.
Second, I noticed that we can accumulate so much stuff that we don’t need. 100 stuffed animals along with numerous “beanie babies” and McDonald’s happy meals prizes serve as one major example. (If you know my 6 year old daughter, please don’t draw her attention to this article. She hasn’t yet missed any of the recently departed stuffies). So instead of store it, share it. Some kids have no stuffed animals. I hope all our former ones encourage dozens of children.
Third, bringing order to chaos is incredibly satisfying. Why is that? As we sat and enjoyed the store room, I thought about God on the 7th day. He saw all that he had made. And it was very good. God had finished his work and he rested. There must have been deep satisfaction for Him at that moment. We tasted a little of that at the end of our project. It was like we shared in some small way in that “divine satisfaction.”
I wish you all a great Spring cleaning season and hope you get a taste of God’s satisfaction through it.
Add the first comment...