As The New Year Begins

By Ann Reed

As the new year begins, people make the effort to clean out closets, drawers, cabinets, etc. all in the effort of a “fresh beginning”.  I’ve noticed, though, that as we age, it becomes a much more daunting process:  weeding through, discarding the useless...and that’s where the battle begins for many of us, discarding.  For some, they just toss without a care, for others, it is a great battle.  To be fair, I have thrown away items that I ended up needing a month later.  There is nothing more frustrating.  

After a time, the useless items are just plain interesting to look at every now and then.  In my defense, Dad was much the same way.  He had two or three large boxes in his closet that he would pull down on occasion.  They were such treasures to us children.  Some items were collected from his time in the Air Force, so they came from places we could only dream of going.  The pictures were from his life before us.  This is really strange to children as we have the tendency to think our parents exist only for our benefit.  What life could they have possibly had without kids? And some things were collected from our own lives, such as the original super balls that were absconded due to our somewhat reckless nature of throwing them in the house.

So on this cold, dreary morning, I am going through some drawers and cabinets.  As usual, there are numerous trinkets collected over the years.  Some are important and others, just junk.     Some have great memories attached to them and other items are so random with no memory what’s-so-ever.  And even if there is no recollection of an item, they still serve the purpose of marking eras of time and change.  For instance, a miniature lighter that cost a quarter from a bubblegum machine.  I kid you not, a bubblegum machine.  There are many watches from our good friend, Timex.  The particular watch pictured is one bought from Magic Mart and reminds me of a time when I constantly watched time to the point it was making me crazy.  I found a collector thimble from my grandmother and little whittlings from when our family was waiting for Uncle Richard to leave this world.  One was carved by Uncle Russ, and little did we know, he would also succumb to death way too early, as well.  

The junk in our lives can provide entertainment on a cold, winter’s day.  It can serve to remind us of where we have been and how we managed.  It is often a reflection of who we are and how we came to be.  But the thing about junk is that it can easily get out of control.  One box can become ten, can become 50.  If you don’t believe me, watch Hoarders.  It will give you perspective.   

The same is true for our Spiritual life.  We can get bogged down with all the junk in our lives, holding on to the past, to the busyness, and to our “junkie attitudes”.   It doesn’t take long before that junk can overrun us as we find ourselves in a hoard of spiritual decline.  Perhaps this is the season where we can look at what we are holding on to and what needs to be cast aside?   Perhaps we can empty ourselves in order for God to fill us.  Then, and only then, are we able to be used by God for His purpose.  Spring is coming.  Are we ready?