Wednesday, May 11, 2016

 

So, who’s the donkey who tucked the lawnmower in the corner of the garage and then piled a winter’s worth of clutter on top of it? There were several, empty cardboard boxes. There were Christmas decorations. There were bits of lumber. An old mattress fell over on top of it. It took an archeological dig to get to the lawnmower and pull it out of its hiding place.  If I ever get hold of the person who did this… why are you looking at me?

I actually hate clutter. You wouldn’t necessarily know that about me if you had ever seen my office at work. But I really do hate clutter. But you would know it by the way I complain about it. I may never do anything about clutter, but I love to complain about it.

Sure, I resort to the lame excuse that even though my desk is messy, I know where everything is.  Hah! The number of times I have lost stuff, even important things, in the pile of papers are too numerous to count, not to mention the time I wasted in trying to find something. I was amazed at what I found when I cleared out my office after ten years – even money.

Spring is a traditional time for house cleaning. We clean windows, great rid of old stuff that has been lying around for the winter, put away winter gear, open the windows and let some fresh air inside the stale house, and tidy up the yard.

Jesus tells the story about a woman who lost a coin and cleaned house, tidied up, and swept out the corners until she found it, (Luke 15:8-10).

There are a lot of different ways we clutter up our lives. We keep the empty boxes of guilt, shame, anger, bitterness, disappointment, frustration, ignorance, prejudice, to name a few. We let the unnecessary clutter of grudges, judgementalism, intolerance pile up and get in the way.  We let the heavy feelings of grief, fear, hopelessness, despair topple upon us and we can’t get up. We let the broken and useless bits and pieces of living inconvenience us and get in the way.

We probably complain about it, but we don’t ever do much about it.

Maybe, it’s time we emulate the woman and do whatever it takes to find ourselves in life’s clutter; to find God in the messes and chaos or in the untidiness and muddles that may be in our hearts, minds and soul, “for God is a God not of disorder, but of peace,” (1 Corinthians 14:33). Paul was talking about worship, but I think the point is relevant here, too.

To find real value and total well-being (shalom) in our living we must get rid of the clutter and discover anew what really matters or makes a difference.

“Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious - the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse,” (Philippians 4: 8, The Message).

Now, if could just find my Bible; I know it was on my desk yesterday…