De-cluttering and Re-newing

We are in the process of change. I have never been one to like change----in fact I am most happy in my  comfort zone of what I know and what I am used to.  I like routine, and I really really like being able to count on things being predictable!  I guess that's why I have been in the same job for 25 years, despite moving 90 miles from my job 18 years ago!  And I guess that's why we have lived in the same house for the last 18 years with the same old stuff....gathering more old stuff as the years have gone by!  But there comes a time when we step back and take a look and realize that things are getting run down and dusty and mighty cluttered.  Paint is chipping off of the siding, the carpets are looking ragged, and the walls are looking a bit dated.  I open the closet door in just about any room in the house and am afraid of what might spill out!  The kids are all mostly moved out, yet their rooms still occupy many of the traces of years gone by----and when I say traces, I mean BIG traces....like closets FULL of their traces!  Don't get me wrong, it has been so comforting having pieces of them still here and I miss them so much now that they are gone, but maybe it's time to do a little decluttering and refreshing in this house! 

So, we began this "process of change" about 6 weeks ago and it has been a lot more work and a lot more costly than I ever would have imagined!  One thing I have come to realize through this process is that it often has to get a whole lot messy before it can be pretty!  Things have to come out in the open and sorted through before they can be either eliminated or put back in some semblance of order. Choices have to be made and laziness has to go out the window because all of this is hard work!  Sometimes I think it never ends!  And in a sense, it doesn't, because we are always making small changes along the way, and up-keep is necessary. 

Isn't this a metaphor of life?  I am really finding lots of parallels along the way!  Life can get so "routine" that we forget to stand back and take a good look at what is really important and what needs changed and "de-cluttered".  Our interior becomes bogged down by worldly baggage and dusty with the dirt of the heart.  Our exterior can look good for a long time, but eventually it starts showing signs of wear.  Like peeling paint, eventually we begin to see what's really underneath the veneer of appearance.  The things of the heart gradually are exposed and there is no other logical choice except to deal with the mess and clean up the clutter.

I lost count of how many bags of garbage we have hauled to the dump, and how many boxes of "stuff" have been donated. It has been an absolute mess in this house at times as we have pulled stuff out of the closets and drawers, and as we have slapped paint after paint on these walls!  But the mess is part of the process. We are getting at the point now where we can see how it's all going to look when it's done.  Our perspective has gone from feeling heavily burdened, to a feeling of anticipation as we see each room with a new coat of paint and space in the corners and closets! I don't know what I would have done without the help of my husband and kids and the professionals that remove the old siding and flooring and replace it with new.  There is no way that one person could do this alone!

The process of change is hard and slow going but step by step the work gets done and we start to see progress and get excited about the prospect of a refreshed and more simple perspective on things. The process of change is not something we can do alone.  We need the help of "The Great Transformer" in order to even be able to step back and see what is failing and what needs some tender loving care in order to be sustained and maintained.  Only God can see what He originally designed us to be, and only in His power can we have the strength to make the changes necessary in order to be who He created us to be.  It's an ongoing process----up-keep is necessary----but He gives us glimpses of His glory and new perspectives as we shed the things that are weighing us down and filling our lives with clutter and sin. 

Soon the siding will be done and the house will look new on the outside, but a house is only as good as what is on the inside---- the framework and foundation, and a few special touches of character in the décor!  I want my life to be that way too.  I want to reflect on the outside what is really on the inside.  I want my foundation to be strong in the Lord, and the framework of my life to be based on that foundation.  And I want the uniqueness that He blessed me with to show in the "décor" of my personality.  I want all who enter in to this house and to my life to feel loved and welcomed and feel the presence of the Lord in it all, and I know that He will be faithful to transform my heart in order for that to be so.  He is good----and He is always up for a good remodel!