Saturday, November 23, 2013

The Things We Find While Cleaning

God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me." - Psalm 51:10
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Dust. Clutter. Unopened mail. Overflowing boxes of junk. Out-of-control stacks of books everywhere.

It's been a crazy few weeks and in the midst of it all, I had kind of neglected my living quarters. And this morning I was staring at the outcome of my neglect... and it wasn't pretty.

So I decided enough was enough. I grabbed just about every cleaning product in the house, plugged in some worship music and proceeded to clean just about every square inch of my room (except the closet; that's a battle for another day).

In the midst of this purging I discovered the usual junk... old receipts, mail from nearly every credit card company you could think of and more. But I also found other things...

I found photos of friends who stuck by my side during some of the best times and difficult seasons of my life. The more I dug, the more I found... Notes and words of encouragement from people who have invested in my life and helped me grow, through mistakes and all. Old journals and notebooks chronicling times of victory and moments of sorrow and uncertainty. Photographs of friends and memories of events that have helped shape me into who I am and who I will become.

During trials, it's nice to get some perspective and see all the times that God has come through for me over and over and over again.

Sometimes it's easy to lose sight of how far we have come on our journey through life. We forget about God's faithfulness, love, mercy and grace time and time again. We have to get through the junk to get a clear view of the blessings that have been in our lives all along. We need to get rid of the stuff that ends up getting in the way of focusing on God's love for us and all that we have to be grateful for (I guess cleanliness is next to godliness, after all).

When we don't regularly do some housecleaning, both physically and spiritually, things get cluttered and we begin to lose sight of what's really important. What kind of stuff do you have to clean out in your own life that's preventing you from seeing and enjoying God and what He has blessed us with? 

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