Cleaning Out the Closet

As most of you know, we had a fantastic week of Vacation Bible School! BUT…the aftermath of VBS is always a lot less fun than putting it all together.  Everything has to come down and be put away. We had A LOT of things to put away at the end of our week of fun. So, my week began with cleaning out and re-organizing the Sunday School supply closet. In the midst of the mess, I took pictures of all I’d gotten myself into. At the end of the day, I took ‘after’ photos. I was really proud of my work and what I accomplished. That evening, I shared my photos with Bob (my husband). He looked at the pictures and commented on my good work, but he also said something that led me to thinking on a deeper level. He said, “You know, 95% of the church will probably never know you did all that.”

            He’s right…unless more than 5% of the congregation reads this article!

            Thinking metaphorically, though, when we ‘clean out our closets,’ does anyone else notice? When we do the hard, inside work of: getting rid of bad habits, working towards acting in healthier ways, renegotiating unhealthy relationships, practicing better ways of being in the world, who notices? When we struggle through all the baggage of life in efforts to move towards self-actualization, who is paying attention? Who knows when we’re done? Are we ever done? If we are, then what does being finished look like?

            I think some people will notice little differences, others will not. But who do we do this hard work for, anyways? I don’t think we take on these challenges, the real or metaphorical ‘closets’ in our lives, for the notoriety. We take them on because whatever we have at the current moment isn’t working for us anymore, or at least does not leave us feeling satisfied. Whether its clearing out clutter, sprucing up our surroundings, better living through organization, or unloading emotional traumas, we’re working towards some kind of personal improvement in our lives…and when we reach a point where we can look back on our hard work and feel proud of how far we’ve come, then the one that really matters has noticed. We’ve taken steps towards living the life we were created for living, letting go of all the clutter that prevents us from being our unadulterated selves. Dare we say living as God created us to live? Maybe in reaching these points where we can look at ourselves and feel some measure of satisfaction, we’re recognizing that God has been urging us in this direction all along. Perhaps the serenity which comes with such accomplishments is part of that ‘peace that surpasses understanding.’

I hope I can spend as much (or more) time and energy in reaching these deeper places within myself as I’ve invested in the physical labors of the craft closet. Maybe those around me can benefit as much from my efforts as I do, myself.

Blessings,
Tracy