"No Don't Get Rid of This"

I have never thought of myself as a pack rat...until today. I have been very organized with all of our little boys clothes. With four boys we believe in hand-me-downs, so I box them according to size and season and we keep them in the attic. Since Matt calls Jacob the caboose, I have decided to sell all of my baby stuff and winter clothes. I took them to a local consignment sale that our community has twice a year. I am ashamed to say that I had over 200 items for 24 months and under. PACK RAT! (Also, see yesterdays blog on stewardship.)

As I was tagging these items for the sale, Joshua kept pulling out items and saying..."Oh mommy, you can't get rid of this!" "Oh mommy, not this too." "This was my favorite outfit when I was a baby." "I just can't let it all go." I am a Pack Rat, raising Pack Rats.

Have you ever been a pack rat in your spiritual life? I have! There are things that I just want to pack away and hold on to. The problem is they are taking up space. Space that could be filled to overflowing with abundant life, joy and the Word of God. I find things in my life that because I have not chosen to get rid of them, they rear their ugly little heads from time to time and they clutter the place where peace and joy long to abide. I am very much like Joshua, I have a hard time getting rid of all these things. I love to pull the clothes out and remember my babies at different ages. I love to hold them close to my face and smell the lingering baby smell. In case you can't tell...I have trouble with change. I have trouble letting go. It's the same in my spiritual life. I hold on to past hurts, past failures, past fears, past disappointments and especially past sins committed against me. I hold on to them and on occasion pull them out and feel sorry for myself, get down on myself or harbor unforgiving attitudes towards those I "say" I have forgiven. These are the things that hinder and entangle and keep me from moving forward in my walk with Christ. I pray that I will be able to throw off all of these things and press on in my walk with Christ and never again say "No Don't Get Rid of This."

Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

Philippians 3:13-14 "Brothers, I do not consider to have taken hold of it. But on thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Isaiah 43:18-19 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!"