Recently I was flipping through the TV channels and caught a show that both fascinated and repelled me at the same time. It was a show about hoarders. That is, people who are unable to throw anything away.

Now, I’ve confessed my own pack rat tendencies, but these dear people had deeper issues than my laziness and disorganization. I found out that it’s not that they want to live this way – they are unable to force themselves to make decisions and things just pile up on them – literally. One dear man could not get the door to his one room efficiency apartment shut – it was that full of what everyone else would call ‘garbage’. In another lady’s house her ‘stuff’ had piled up to shoulder height – in every room! While her son was impatient for her to just start throwing things away, she needed to look at every single thing and eventually was simply overwhelmed by the enormous task of deciding what to keep and what to throw away.

Easy for me to think, ‘Just get a back-ho, Honey, and take it to the dump!’ But it was much more complicated than that and I found myself having a great deal of compassion for each of these people caught up in the cycle of not being able to get rid of anything.

It made me pause to wonder if I’m not more like these precious people than I would like to admit. Am I hoarding things in my spiritual life? Holding on to shattered dreams and unfulfilled plans? Am I unable to let go of old hurts and wounds, salvaging every scrap of disappointment or heartache? Or piling up justifications for my attitude and responses to other people? Have I let the mess of my sins drop on the floor of my life, afraid to let go or allow God to have full reign and clean me up?

It seems so simple – just get rid of it! But when we deal with our emotions it gets a little messy and sticky and hard to straighten out. Our decision making becomes impaired because our perspective is clouded. Just like the people who sought out help to clean up their homes, it is a process that takes the support of someone with the ability to help untangle the mess. Spiritually speaking, that’s our Helper, the Holy Spirit.

Being willing to call a mess what it is – a mess – is the first step to getting help. To say, ‘There are things in my life, Lord, that are long past time to get rid of.” To realize that holding onto things is unnecessary and detrimental to our health and well being – both physically and spiritually.

I think it may be time for me to get out the broom and dustpan – and maybe even a shovel or two!

All for Him,

Missy