I moved to South Bend a little over 6 years ago and left behind a building and a barn full of treasures that I did not have room for in our new place.

The new renters of my old place wanted more space and so my parents decided to rent the building on the property to them as well.  Uh – Oh!  It is full of stuff.  My stuff.  My father-in-law’s stuff.  My parents’ stuff.  All stuff that was too valuable to throw away, but as far as my part of the stuff – stuff I hadn’t needed for over 6 years!

Clean-out time had come.  Everything had to go!  What was worth keeping?  Was anything worth keeping?  The time to decide was here.  Oh . . . did I forget to mention that I’m a pack-rat?  I guess maybe the building and barn full of stuff kind of gave that away. 😛

There were a few things that I felt I could use.  A couple very nice basketball goals . . . an old wooden desk chair . . . something else . . . and something else as well, I guess.  There must have been a few other things, at least we brought 3 van loads home.  But that was nothing compared to the truck and trailer loads that were hauled off and dumped.  Much of it was simply trash . . . waiting for the day that it would be called what it was and dealt with appropriately.  For much of it, that day had come.  There is likely stuff that was kept and saved by myself and other family members that actually fit the “trash” category, but it wasn’t identified as such yet.  Perhaps one day it’s time will come as well.

It made me think of the principles Jesus taught . . . “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  . . . “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”  Wow!  What is the treasure that fills my heart?  What does my mouth sound like because of the treasures that I am storing up.  Is it time for a continual cleaning out and an honest calling of the clutter, trash?  It is not just the garages, basements, barns, and storage buildings that fill up with worthless items.  Much worse is when we let our hearts, minds, and souls fill up with things that are worthless so that the things of the Spirit have no room.

May you and I clean “house” and give the Spirit ample room to live and work!