Taking Out the Trash

by Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger

24 Apr 2008 08:00 AM

My children don't seem to understand the difference between garbage and treasure. They hang on to every scrap of paper, yogurt container, soda bottle, tin foil bit, and inch of string. Every time I help them clean their rooms, we have deep discussions over what constitutes garbage and what really is worth keeping. I always throw out at least two garbage sacks of treasures, mostly for sanitary reasons but also for sanity reasons, and they are in tears because of it. I can't wait until they are finally old enough to get what I mean when I say, "that's garbage" - that is, I sure hope they grow out of it. I'd hate to see them end up on some reality TV show someday, their stuff overflowing out the windows and them not even able to get out the front door.

Of course, chances are, if they are on a reality TV show, I'll blog a review about it.

Back to the topic at hand - while contemplating these worthless bits of garbage my children insist on saving, I got to thinking about spiritual garbage. How many of us cling with tenacity to the spiritual trash in our lives? I came up with the following list of things we might have a tendency to hold onto:

1. Old sins and past mistakes. How often do we continue to berate ourselves for past actions, even after we've been through the repentance process? Why do we continually remind ourselves of all the stupid things we did, without letting Christ lift them from our shoulders?

2. Grudges and resentments. We know that being unforgiving hurts us worse than it does the other person, and yet we continue to hold on to those feelings of resentment. Sometimes we feel justified in nursing our anger just a little longer, but in reality, we're burdening ourselves and not allowing ourselves to feel free.

3. Sins we continue to commit. Let's face it-don't we all have little sins we struggle to abandon? We know what we should be doing. We know what's right and wrong. But there's just this one little thing we're hanging onto for dear life. Why are we afraid to let go of it?

As we work on cleaning up our houses and throwing away the junk that accumulates, let's also work on the things that have built up inside us that keep us from seeing out the windows and from enjoying a close, personal relationship with our Savior.

Related Blogs:

The Healing Power of Forgiveness

How Much Forgiveness Should We Model?

Clearing the Slate

Learn more about Tristi Pinkston

I've been a blogger for Families.com since August of 2006.

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