Clean Up!

The past couple of weeks I've been cleaning house and I don't mean I just dusted, vacuumed & mopped. 

I went to that deep dark hidey-hole full of things that have come & gone, but never thrown out or given away...the place where you stash the things that you don't know what to do with. 

You don't dare open the door, peek through the curtain or pull out the drawer where the stuff might be stashed. 

If you actually have the nerve to look at the things in this hidey-hole & really confront them as a whole

- it's overwhelming & gut-wrenching to think how everything got there, then you get mad at yourself because you are the one that put it all there - because at some point we talked ourselves into thinking that throwing these things behind the door was easier than just dealing with them.

I have to admit that it was hard to deal with my "stash" of stuff. 

The whole process was very emotional & at 1st I was in denial.

I wondered how I could have caused this stash of chaos. 

Once I started pulling things out I got upset that I was making such a mess,then I got determined to throw out everything!!

My sentimental way of thinking took a vacation - because nothing was 

getting between this pile of nothingness & the trash can. 

Once everything was cleaned out - I felt very calm. I didn't realize how the stuff effected how I felt.

But isn't this also true in life? 

We have to deal with a lot of "stuff" every day.

And it's up to us what we do with it - whether we deal with it head-on & then file it away where it belongs or just throw it as far out of our mind as we can. I think we trick ourselves into thinking that stashing everything away will just make it all disappear - But we start stashing this stuff away & then push more stuff on top of it & keep adding more to the pile where we finally go on overload & then crack!

Believe me, I've almost "dropped my basket" a time or two ( Ya! Ya! )

Nobody likes to deal with the "junk" we get handed everyday by life - but once you face it, sort it out and then clean it up you feel peace & calm. And let me tell you, a little peace & calm never hurt nobody :)

 One way or another the stress that we let surround us starts infecting us.

I've done some soul-searching about the issues I try to hide - but I can't handle life by myself.

  But I take comfort in knowing who can take my cares away so I don't have to bear the burdens of life alone.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

~ Matthew 11:28