I pulled out the drawer in the middle of my kitchen, searching for a number 2 pencil WITH an eraser, with ten minutes to get into the minivan. My hands began frantically rummaging to no avail; UNO cards, nail polish, hair clips, dozens of tiny rubber bands…no number 2 pencils, no pencils at all! This is not good I thought. The one thing that is supposed to be there isn’t, but every other thing under the sun is in there, taking up space and just junking up my drawer!
I know how this happened. When I am tidying up I just toss things in there and close it up real quick instead of dealing with it and putting it
where it’s really supposed to go.
It works for the moment. My counters are clear, and on the surface my kitchen looks really shiny and nice. (Until a guest accidentally opens the drawer looking for a spoon to stir her coffee, right?) The same happens with our hearts. We don’t put the real time or effort into prayer. So we just toss up a general “Lord help me.”
Our outsides look great and tidy; but on the inside, we feel like our own junk drawer.
Cluttered.
This afternoon, I opened it up to clean it out. I put my fingers in there and moved the junk all around, looking for things that were valuable enough to keep. I set a few treasures on top of the counter that I deemed worthy. There was still so much junk mixed in with the good stuff. I spotted a handwoven necklace I had bought in Africa when we were there adopting my daughter that I definitely wanted to keep.
But I realized I only had a few minutes before I had to leave again to take my daughter to gymnastics! (See why I wrote the “Why your house is messy” post?) I shoved the UNO cards and other treasures back in and then took this picture: (Your’e welcome, I try to keep it real here :))
I thought about how my heart felt all discombobulated like this messy drawer. It had been such a busy morning with necessary activities that I could not cut out of our schedule. I have been out of the habit of rising very early to pour my heart out to the Lord in prayer and so it felt just as cluttered as this drawer. So many concerns were in there, nothing extremely heavy or pressing, but just things I needed to talk to Jesus about, stuffed in there waiting to come out and set before him.
The only way to clear something so messy out is to dump it. Let all the good things worth keeping and the clutter taking up space to come out, and be picked up and evaluated
one thing at a time.
It is the same with our prayer life. We can’t feel light and free if we don’t sit at the feet of Jesus and lift up every concern separately
one care at a time.
He wants us to be specific, and ask.
“You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.” James 4:2
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Philippians 4:6
“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” 1 Peter 5:7
So in the spirit of Spring Cleaning, go pick a drawer or a closet. Open it up and dump the clutter out. As you pick up each thing to evaluate it, voice your concerns to the Lord. Don’t let your mind wander into daydreaming. Talk out loud to Jesus if that helps. Feel your heart become so light and free as you let all the cares and worries be set upon the One on whom they are supposed to fall.
Then organize all the things that are left. See the beauty you have created where there was once a mess. Know that the things you lifted up to the Lord are being turned into something beautiful for eternity as well! If you doubt, just open up that drawer or closet and thank Him for working on the requests you laid at his feet.
I would love to hear from you if you are working through “Spring Cleaning for Your Heart and Home!” Comment below and tell me how it’s going! Praying for you all. Enjoy journeying through your home with Jesus, and look forward to a clean home and heart!
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Amy D Terry 