That Therapeutic Box

Do you have one? No? Are you sure? If you don’t I think you should get one.

The box I’m referring to just now is orange and it contains…. Big Black Garbage Bags!

From time to time I have “big black garbage bag day” for the kids. It goes like this: “You have until tomorrow to have your room cleaned… actually cleaned and tidy. If you don’t, I will go in there with a big black garbage bag and clean it my way.” Usually gets them moving. Of course I had to fine tune the threat to include the fact that I will take whatever I decide to take, not just the things they left on the floor FOR me to pick up. It’s all or, well, all! So BBGBD works pretty well around here.

This week, I decided to turn on myself. I decided it was time to clean out closets, my desk, sort out the kitchen and clean out the pantry of things like old, stale boxes of cereal. I was in a PURGE mood. And purge I did!

The first area I tackled was a closet under my stairs that was just stuffed with yarn and fabric. STUFFED. If you opened the door you were going to have a hard time closing it. It took hours to go through all of that stuff. I sorted out my yarn and I got rid of about half of my stash. Maybe not quite half, but it was A LOT. We had a “Ditch and Stitch” meeting at my house the day after that purge and the kind ladies took all of my give away yarn off of my hands! I also pawned off some fabric to my quilting friend. Fabulous! Now my “keep” yarn is out in the living room on the shelves of the entertainment center because I don’t want to put it back in the closet, but it can’t stay there. I’m looking for a handy, useful way to store my yarn. Sadly I think I may have to resort to rubbertubs… which is a shame since it’s so pretty!

I also tackled my desk. I was more brutal with myself this time than all of the other times I’ve gone through it and I got rid of 99% of the things I previously thought I needed to keep. YAY!

It is truly therapeutic to get rid of stuff. Stuff weighs me down. It clutters my mind and my heart. And it is a mess! Having all of the excess really makes it hard for me to bring in the new, too.

All of this has me thinking about confession. About how good it is to purge myself on a regular basis and about how if I don’t, my sins will weigh me down and make it difficult, if not impossible, to bring in the “new.” It is hard to grow in virtue when clinging to self. It is impossible to grow in holiness if we cling to our sin. Jesus made it so simple (though not always easy!) for us to purge ourselves of our sin and selfishness. All we have to do is head into that therapeutic box and bring our sincere repentance with us.

Looks like time for BBGBD for my soul. I know I’ll feel even better about dumping that garbage than I did about the junk i had hidden behind closed doors and cabinets in my house.