Yesterday was a day of bringing up old memories, wounds, dirt and cobwebs.  We finally began to tackle the plethora of boxes within our garage.  These cartons and crates were tucked away when we moved last fall, to be gone through at a later date.  With the help of our strong granddaughter, lifting and carrying those boxes out, we managed (to her chagrin) to open some of them only to put them back in a more orderly fashion.

I went through about six crates of costumes from my children’s theater company.   My attachment to those hand made items, sewn with love and even some blood mixed in, has waned over the past year.  When we moved, I thought I might still have need for them.  I’ve had a year to rethink that whole thing and have accepted the fact that they need to go.  So I weeded through things I wanted to put in a sale, donate or dispose of.  I organized them so they’d be ready for a sale in September.

It got me to thinking about how our lives can change so drastically in one single year,  I was going to a funeral every month for the first six months of this year.  I had terminated my business.  I felt relief, guilt, loss and sadness through that process.  I had already eliminated much of the “stuff” in my life, which was merely clutter. I was ready to start over, but all those past memories seem to hang on in the recesses of my mind.  Letting go is not easy.

Everything went back into the garage.  The buckets my granddaughter had labeled, “garage sale” – “donate” – “save” – “garbage” were almost empty.  We will have to address this same process again some day soon.

Sometimes we hang on to our past sins in much the same way.  It’s hard to imagine the bad things we’ve done have been paid for by our God.  It doesn’t always make sense.

The devil loves that opportunity  when we weaken in our faith,

When we cling to things of the past,

When we can’t let go.

Because of our loving God, we don’t have to feel abandoned by God.  He has forgiven us once and for all.  The boxes of garbage that once cluttered our hearts and minds have been washed away.  The cobwebs that cloud our thinking have been cleaned up.  Jesus died and rose again so that we would never have to re-do the mess we’ve created in our lives.