Cleaning Out the Closets

I asked my husband to build me some shelves in the closet so I can turn one of the rooms into the office/craft/sewing room. He was sweet to do that for me.

It is a small room so I need to make use of all the space I can. So that meant cleaning that closet out so he could add shelves. Well in moving all of that stuff out I was going to move it all to another closet. Which meant moving the stuff from that closet into another closet. Which meant I had to straighten out that closet first.



Got the picture. I have “stuff” everywhere right now – all over the house. 

So as I put things back into their correct place, which I will forget where I put everything now, I need to look at each thing and decide if I am keeping it or not. Who needs 12 vases, or 15 different types of candle holders? I like pretty things and I collect them from auctions and yard sales. But I don’t use them, so I am getting rid of them. Just keeping 2 or 3 and the rest are going out. This has really been hard work. Much more emotional than I thought it would be. Some of it was my mom’s, so that stuff I am keeping for my girls. All in all, it has been a lot of work and I have 3 big boxes of stuff to go out the door. But now I have straightened out closets, at least some of them.

This makes me think about the “stuff” we keep in our hearts. Don’t you wish we could just box up some of the stuff we carry around with us day to day? Then we could have boxes of Hurts, Broken Promises, Lost Dreams and Dumb Decisions. Pack them up and discard them. Put them out with the trash or sell them at a yard sale. That would be so easy.

Ephesians 3:19
To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

If we were empty like my closets, we could fill them back up again with good stuff, like God’s word and His love.

In Paul’s letter to the Philippians he prayed for them to be filled with all the fruits of righteousness.

Philippians 1:9-11
9-And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10-that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11-being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

It makes sense to me that by living in this world, we need to empty some of the stuff that we collect daily in our hearts and minds. Since I can’t just take it out and put it in a box, I figure the best way to do this is to study God’s word and pray it out.

So take some time today, dump some stuff and fill back up on God’s word.

May God Bless