Unshackled Moments ~ April 13 ~ Hoarders

Yesterday's Unshackled Moment - Conflict Of Masters dealt with the impossibility of being in submission to God and anything else, including our own will at the same time. It also showed this truth to  be a promise and effective tool in which to find freedom from all areas of bondage. A verse from Romans was used to start things off, where understanding being in bondage to old behavior, Pul admits that he would do the things he hated to do or did not want to do while falling short of his goal to do the things he loved, wanted to do and knew were right. But what to do about the things outside of God's will for us that we love to do, that we want to do. or at the very least, don't have enough desire to stop doing to put in the effort and vigilance it would take to bring that area of our life under submission to God's will?

These areas are important. These areas are where we begin to grow up and mature spiritually, and in so doing find the richest relationship with our Creator. There is a spiritual glass ceiling of sorts. Many, if not most of us, come to God out of desperation, broken and in need of great and immediate help. The chains of our bondage are weighing  us down and killing us. We learn that we are powerless to free ourselves and that we need God's power to set us free. We take certain steps to become honest with ourselves and clear our lives of the things, at least the major ones, that are blocking us from God. We learn to submit our lives and will to the care of God and to His will, at least to the point where we can find freedom from those heavy chains.

It's not that we make a conscious decision to hold back anything or any area. In fact, I'm sure that at the time, most of us would say that we are doing everything we can, giving our all. It's like we woke one day and realized our life looks like someone's house in an episode of Hoarders. It's a dangerous disgusting mess full of filth and trash and things from the past that any sane person would instantly see that we don't need to hold onto. Yet, part of us wants to do just that, to hold onto each and everything there. We come to the place where we understand it has to change and the work needs to be done. We clean it all out. We take an honest inventory and get read of the things that are dangerous first and then begin weeding out the things we simply don't need and are still blocking access to the space.

After we finish we rightly feel relieved and in need of a break. It took a lot of work and effort in every area (physically, mentally, emotionally and especially spiritually) to get the house cleaned up. The producers throw up the before image of trash and rotten food and cat feces and leaning towers of junk cluttering every inch of space and then cut to the present view of a house that has room to walk through, places to sit, rest and entertain company. There is no rotten food in our out of the fridge. A single cat box sits out of the way in one corner, and it is clean. We look at our lives and exclaim how happy we are. We never believed it could look that good. Our fiends and family are shocked and pleased. It seems like a miracle has taken place, and indeed it has!

I would never be one to diminish that amazing transformation in any way, because I am so very grateful for that very miracle taking place inn my life. The next stage, for however long it lasts, is continuing to  do the evaluative inventory and submitting to the instructions of someone not insane who understands what needs to be done so that we don't simply let the house slowly return to the state that it was in before. We don't buy junk we don't need. We throw away mail. We dispose of old food. We daily go through the house, or at least regularly, and put things where they go instead of leaving them where we finished with them. We learn little things, like if we put our plate in the sink when we're done eating we don't have to worry about coming back two days later to find that we forgot to and we don't have to hunt when it's time to do dishes.

This maintenance also takes work, but not as much as the initial cleaning did/ Over time it becomes easier and more natural. We have found freedom from the horrible situation we were in, and life is better. We are comfortable and content. But is the house clean? No. Is it a million times better? Yes, but it's not even close to clean/

If you disagree, imagine that every single thing not built into the house is taken out and people who do not know the tale, who never saw the episode were brought in to look over the place and judge if they would want to rent or purchase the abode and move in immediately. No one would! There would be too much work to be done. There are places that are ready for new tenants, why would anyone subject themselves to the stripping of the floors that needs to be done, to scrubbing the baseboards, to cleaning and painting the stained walls, to...the list could go on and on. Even if you left the furniture in place and offered it as a weekend retreat, a furnished and homey place, it would appear filth and well, new, to a fresh eye.

Does that seem a little extreme a scenario?  Isn't that more than needs to be done? It's not. We are to be lights of the newness of life. New. Not just better. Not just a miracle. We tell others that if they want what we have they can do what we did. For that to mean anything, our house needs to be something they would want. Now, that may be easy enough if we only encountered  other hoarders with their homes in as big of a mess as ours was. But we don't live in a hoarder colony separated from everyone else. There are family, friends, bosses, employees, co-workers, and even strangers we encounter as we go through life. We need to go beyond look at the miracle that took place to where they see our home and don't just see transformation but newness that they themselves desire. Such a lovely, clean and wonderful home! How can I have what you have?! And as pleased as we are with the miracle and maintenance we will be ever more happy the cleaner and nicer it gets. Even if it means sacrificing some clutter that doesn't really bother us as much before it's gone. Even if it means more work.

Today, let us not stay content with the miracle. Let us  strive for newness, and let us always remember that it takes the same grace, help and outside power to get clean of the stains on the baseboards as it did to get rid of the nastiness that made our lives unsanitary and disgusting. We never reach a point where we can tell God, thank You for making my house look like an after photo. I can take it from here.

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