Are you a Hoarder?

Are you a hoarder?  I'm sure when you hear that question the images that you see in your mind are those that are seen on that show Hoarders: Buried Alive.  But I believe there is much more to it then just being someone who holds onto every material item that has ever passed through their hands.  Hoarding can be emotional as well as physical.  Do you tend to hang onto your feelings about something or someone forever?  Have you ever walked away from a conversation where someone dumped on you how they disliked someone else because of something they had done, and suddenly you don't like that person either even though you either have never actually met them or you have never had a bad experience with them before?  Why do we do this?  Why do we hold onto the garbage like that?

I heard Peter Walsh, the professional organizer say once "If it's not bringing joy or making your life better then get rid of it."  Just because Aunt Betty gave it to you doesn't me you have to keep it.  She would rather you passsed it on to someone who could use it then allow it to overwhelm your life.  This is true with both material stuff as well as emotional stuff.  They also say that what you outside looks like is a reflection of what's going on on the inside.  Meaning, all that clutter that is piling on that table in the corner, stuffed in that closet or hidden in that drawer is a sign that you are also holding on to stuff emotionally as well.

So it's time to start clearing out the crap.  Part of this journey to get healthy mind, body and soul means that we need to take some time going through our stuff.  And since Spring is here it's as good a time as any to start cleaning.  Today I started with one closet and I'll get to another tomorrow.  A garbage bag full of trash came out of that one closet and now it's organized and I can actually find what I need in it.  So I challenge you to begin clearing out those spaces.  Thinking less is more.

1 Corinthians 6:19  Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own.

So my body is a temple a sanctuary, the very place that the Holy Spirit resides?  And yet I keep all this garbage in there.  So He must have to really work hard to get the door open in order to get in.  Would you really invite God to live let alone visit in all that mess?  Of course He see the mess we are and loves us no less.  But wouldn't you rather have that space clean and looking it's best for him?  I know I do.  I remember when my mother-in-law would come to visit and I would spend days scrubbing every nook and cranny of my house because heaven forbid she think that I wasn't a proper house keeper.  Why would I work so hard to impress her and yet not want to clean up the mess for God himself?  The wonderful thing about Him is that He will happily come in and help us clean up the mess that we are, one little section at a time.