Declutter

I enjoyed cleaning out our spare room today. The girls are coming home in a couple weeks and I have to make room for their storage. It is good to go through all the stuff that I tend to just shove in that space. It makes me think about all the stuff in my past that I just shove back and think I will get to later. I am comforted by Paul's words to forget that which is behind and to press forward. The past is good if we remember it is the past. God takes us from that past and moves us forward. He doesn't leave us in the space we are in. He does what I did in that spare room today. He takes out the garbage. It is not that we forget the past, even though that is the word Paul uses. We still remember it. It is just that God tells us that He removes the garbage. I kept things. I kept what is useful. I kept good memories, pictures and a treasured book or two. I kept important papers. God keeps things too. He keeps our gifts for us to use. He keeps the memories of how He has worked in our lives. He keeps His word that we have stored in us. What He gets rid of is that which is of no use or is garbage. He does not do this unless we cooperate with Him in the process. We often opt out, choosing to keep things that are useless, sinful, or painful memories. It is those very things that Paul wants us to reckon gone. He wants us to picture them as finished and over and then to have us press forward and use the good things we have left. After getting rid of clutter and garbage my room looks nicer and I have room to work and enjoy the space. God calls us to clean out our past and go forward. My house is calling me to do likewise.