When you don't see it anymore

You know those things in your home.  Those things outside of your home...in the garage...in the carport...foyer...kitchen counter.  Things that don't really have a good place to go.  They don't have a proper place to live.  Maybe you are like us.  There is a very good reason for the clutter.  We had to tear down our detached garage to make room for the new house.  Oh, I'm not complaining...I just don't know where to put the stuff.  Most of the ride on toys, bikes, balls, wagons, bins of bats, gloves, chalk, etc have landed on our carport.  The we can see it all from the main road carport.  Yuck. 

You know how it is when you see you children everyday.  You know they are growing up, getting bigger. Then one day you see them in a different light.  They are grownups (not really), but oh so big!!  Well, that is kind of how my carport clutter grew.  A little bit was added to it here and there over the past months. It collected muddy boots - lots of muddy boots, brooms, more ride on toys, an air compressor, an extension cord, 2 extra bikes, two chick feeders, an old dog food storage bin, 2 buckets of sidewalk chalk (fun!), and a PILE of fallen leaves.  How the heck did this happen????  I drove in one day and thought, Oh my...this is what people see when they drive by and we are not here.  The van is not here shielding them from the mess that is our carport!

We do not live like this. I am not that person.  SO.....today was a beautiful day.  The kids and I headed out during the warmest part of the day to play and work (me).  While they were joyful over all of the found junk on the carport, I moved, swept, relocated, trashed, and organized the stuff on our carport.  This stuff will soon have a home in the new home, but until then I will not go blind to the mess.  I will not ignore it until it smacks me in the head one day.

Do you have those things that can never find an appropriate place in your home?  The random shipping box with random stuff inside?  A flashlight or piece of mail that just stays by the door? Toys in random places?  A coupon on your bathroom counter that you keep forgetting to take with you to Moe's?  I know...random.  Anyway, this week I am going to work on putting things in their place.  When you don't see it anymore, just look through the eyes of a visitor.  Sometimes, I try to look through the eyes of my children.  What will they remember seeing when they come home?  Will it feel like home, or a place cluttered with stuff?  Even though we live in a teeny house and have a lot of stuff for schooling, living, and playing, it can still be organized and neat.  Right?!?!  That is my challenge.  Through Christ, I will be victorious in homekeeping.

Do you have specific things about you, about your spirit that you don't see anymore?  Things that you have been hanging on to for so long that you are blind to them?  Things that you used to feel guilty or conviction for, but no longer do?  Are you numb to bitterness, jealousy, anger, greed, impurity, pride?  Lord, please reveal to me my sins that I don't see, so that I may confess them to you.  Thank you for your forgiveness. Through Christ, I will have victory over strongholds!

Your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you so that He will not hear.  Isaiah 59:1-2
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:16