Clutter

June 3, 2010

Clutter

As part of our overall effort to realign our priorities and focus some of our attention on the things that matter to us we recently decided to just go ahead and replace the carpeting in the den that should have been replaced ten years ago when we first moved into the house. In our house the den is really the family room. It is where we really go about the business of living. It has all the stuff in it that our family needs or wants to relax, play, watch TV, do some work, and well, just be a family. The family room is full of the stuff of life including computers, musical keyboard, TV, VCR and DVD players, guitar and amplifier, painting table, cat bed, cat toys, telephone, end tables, tables, lamps, treadmill machine, easy chairs, couch, pillows, blankets, saxophones, and gaming counsels. Every horizontal service usually has stuff piled on it for immediate or future use. In short, the family room is usually cluttered. User friendly but cluttered.

This evening we realized that tomorrow afternoon the new carpeting is going to be installed and we needed to clear the room out so the installers could do their work. We decided that this evening we would take everything out except for the essential things we wanted for this evening and the larger pieces of furniture that the installers will remove for a small fee. The essential things will be removed in the morning.

It is now late at night. Pat and Chris are in bed and Honey, the cat, is off somewhere hiding because of the thunderstorm (I’m not sure when she will emerge). Just a short while ago I was sitting here at the computer wanting to write but not sure what I wanted to write about. As my mind wandered I gazed around the room and a strange calm passed over me. It really caught me by surprise but it took only a moment to realize that the room was completely uncluttered and I felt “calm”.

As I thought about it I began to wonder about the “clutter” in my spiritual life. For years now I have pursued with passion knowledge about who God is, what He wants from us, and how to do His work in His Glory. I have studied the words of Jesus and the Apostles to gain a better understanding of how to live a Christian life. I have tried to tie it all together so that perhaps one day it will all make perfect sense to me. Have I cluttered my spiritual journey? Am I so involved in the process of progressing along my spiritual journey that I have lost sight of the calm presence of our mighty God? Yes. I think that I have cluttered my journey. Tonight I am going to be calm.

Psalm 46:10 -- ‘Be still, and know that I am God!'

Oh yes, tomorrow after the new carpeting is put in all the stuff of family life is coming back into the room. And yes, I will again clutter my thinking with details. But it sure feels good to be calm, at least for a short period of time. I will have to make a habit of occasionally pulling out all of the clutter.

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Endure and Let Your Light Shine

1 Corinthians 10:13 -- No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

Hebrews 10:36 -- For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

Proverbs 13:9 -- The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.

Matthew 5:14-16 -- let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Matthew 10:32-33 -- ‘Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”

The Great Commission

After Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection He returned in the flesh one last time to His apostles and instructed them in the Great Commission. These are Christ’s last words of instruction to us, as recorded by Matthew, before his final ascension to the spirit world.

Matthew 28:18-20 -- And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’*

Padre Pio

The Way to Heaven
What does it matter to you whether Jesus wishes to guide you to Heaven by way of the desert or by the fields, so long as you get there by one way or the other? Put away any excessive worrying which results from the trials by which the good God has desired to test you; and if this is not possible, resign yourself to the Divine will.

Make Yourself at Home
It is just as well to make yourself at home with the sufferings that Jesus is pleased to send you as you must always live with them. In this way, when you are least expecting to be liberated from them, Jesus, who cannot bear to keep you long in affliction, will come and relieve you and comfort you, giving you new courage.