My junk drawer

My house is kept pretty neat, most of the time. Ok, some of the time (I do have three children after all). Most things in my home has a place; toys in the toy box, clothes in drawers, food in the refrigerator. 'Everything has a place and a place for everything'. When I find something I am not sure what to do with, I stuff it in one of my junk drawers. I am sure every home has one. What's inside may startle you, I have everything from receipts to tape, hairbows to paper that has been drawn on....the list goes on and on, I honestly don't even know what is past the initial glance inside there. Many a things have been 'lost' only to be found in the junk drawer. What purpose does the junk drawer serve in my home? To store things, things that if I be honest with myself, should be either thrown away or put in their original spot. I could almost rename my junk drawer to 'I don't want to deal with it now' drawer. 

Over a period of time, my junk drawer accumulates things. Lots of things. And before I know it, I am pushing things down in the drawer to shut it completely, telling myself it needs to be cleaned out, knowing I won't anytime soon. So the cycle continues until it is spilling out everywhere, and I am left with a mess. A preventable mess, if I had kept to the adage "Everything has a place..." 

If I am honest with myself, I do this very same thing in my spiritual walk. There are things I go through that I could label "I don't want to deal with it now" and stuff it in my spiritual junk drawer. You may do the same thing too. Whether it is something that has caused you pain, and you don't want to face it just yet (or ever), or something that your angry about and like to keep around just in case. Maybe it's a blessing that you are trying to live off of and refuse to move on from. Whatever the situation, you stuff it inside your drawer, hoping no one opens it up to see what's inside. After awhile, your hurts, disappointments, anger, jealousy all accumulates in your drawer. You can only stuff a container so full before it spills out.  When it spills out into our lives, we realize, just like I do when my literal drawers spill out, just how much junk is actually in there! The hurts and shame of the past, that should have been dealt with long ago, are now seeping into our everyday lives. 

It seems you eat, sleep, breathe your past. What do we do now? We need to clean out our drawers, deal with what's inside. It's painful, unfair, and not something we want to do...but we don't have to clean it out alone. Jesus helps us when we are too scared to open our junk drawers to even begin cleaning. He can clean the spill-overs, and restore us once again. There is nothing too shameful, horrid, or embarrassing to Him. He has seen every sin take place and loves you still. 

Psalm 55:22 Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall

You must do in order to have. If you want to be free from the chains that drag you down, the past hurts and shames of yesterdays to be gone, you must give them to God. He will not come and force His way into your heart to clean it out. We must open ourselves up to Him and give Him the good, the bad and the ugly, scary, dark places in there. We have a great promise that He will take care of us when we do! It's scary letting Him see our inmost parts, the parts we keep hidden with great care, but when we do, He will do His part and care for us. 

Just like the mess in my junk drawers, the things inside have a place, most of it belongs in the trash. Why keep it around? It serves only to hurt us, or drag us down, causes us to be weary, or bitter. God has great plans for us, but we cannot accomplish them with our junk spilling over. Don't wait around until you are ready to clean it out, because honestly, we never will be. Do it now! Ask God to help you open the closed doors of your heart, and forgive who needs to be forgiven, move on, and let go. Clean out your junk drawer! With His help, it can be a opportunity to grow, learn and deepen your relationship with Him!