Cleanup

Scriptures: "In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purpose, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work." (II Timothy 2:20-21)

The week of the Thanksgiving holiday was a blessing to me. I finally got to clean up my garage. Over the years, I don't know how I have accumulated so many things, some were still in the wrapping when we moved in and others were conveniently left on the rack without ever being touched again.

It actually took a couple of days just to go through everything in the garage and to identify what need to go. It took another day and half to move things around so I can have the space to put the unwanted things. then, we had to go through all unwanted things and put them in the proper category, oversize objects, hazadous materials, recyclable containers, etc. It's really a project on its own.

Because of the various Tahnksgiving events, we were not able to do all these things at once. Though we started early on Monday, we didn't get to ship them out to the dump site until the following Monday, three carloads of them. Afterwards, when I looked at the cleaned up and reorganized garage, I felt so good. Now I could set my ping-pong table again and play with my kids; I could move my cars back in the garage where they belong; I could find things I need so much easier. Not only does my garage look so much neater, it's actually a lot more useful to us and easier to work in there, too.

Then it hit me. Isn't our hearts just like this? Over time, we have allowed so many things, conciousely or unconciousely, to be stored up in our hearts. Some of them may look nice at first. But, as they are not really needed in life, after a while, we forgot about them. They just sat there, taking up some space of our hearts. Some were simply junks, things that were not good for us, like bitterness, hurts, disappointments, worries for our life and the world around us, and many others. For some reason, sometimes, it's really hard to let go of these things.

With our daily responsibilities, sometimes, finding time to reflect on our spiritual condition becomes a luxury. But the consequence is also costly. When our hearts are filled with these unneeded and destructive things, we constantly find ourselves battling against ourselves. It slows us down in our quest for deeper relationship with our Lord Jesus. It reduces the capacity we have for loving others. Sometimes, more often than we would like to admit, it made it difficult for us to study and understand the Word of God. These spiritual wastes and junks not only take up spaces in our hearts, they wear us down, too.

But, this Thanksgiving week, I am grateful that I am once again reminded to make sure there's enough room in my heart for things of God. The psalmist said, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night." (Psalm 1:1-2)

Let's make room for God to work in our hearts so that His truth and grace can reside in us and empower us to bear witness to our Lord Jesus and His saving grace!

Prayer Requests:
For dump site workers

Prayers:
Dear Aba Father, thank You for the grace and provision You have for us. Help us to learn from our Lord Jesus and empty ourselves of all earthly concerns and burdens so we can completely filled with Your heavenly will and guidance in response to Your glorious grace. Help us to be wise and vigilant in making our hearts available to You and You alone always as we pray in the precious name of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus, Amen!