Throwing Out, Or Just Rearranging?

The fridge was full. The freezer was full. A blessing, without a doubt, but also a frustration. Every time I would try to get something out of either one, I’d have to move five other things first. Or something would fall on me. It was the same story when I would try to put something away in either the fridge or the freezer. What should have been the quick task of putting something away would instead take five minutes!

Finally, I’d had enough. I started with the refrigerator. I pulled everything out, tossed what needed to be tossed (several things had disappeared and grown old behind the mess!), and completely rearranged the fridge. Within about twenty minutes, I had a clean, manageable refrigerator again. All it took was getting some things out that really didn’t need to be in there anymore.

Then I moved to the freezer. Unlike the refrigerator, there wasn’t really anything that needed to be thrown out. It was all good and all still usable. But, somehow I had to make space in the freezer. So, as with the fridge, I pulled everything out. But this time instead of throwing things away I simply rearranged. When I was done, the freezer was still full, but it was very manageable. Everything was accessible and a little space remained for any new items that needed to be added.

Often our lives are like my refrigerator. There are things that have cluttered up our lives that just have to go. As long as they’re there, we just don’t have room for the good things God requires in our lives. We cannot be truly functional until they have been pulled out and thrown in the trash.

But, other times our lives are more like the freezer. It’s not that we have the wrong things filling each day. Instead, we have them in the wrong order. Our priorities are out of whack. Our emphases are in the wrong place. Our focus is pointed in the wrong direction. It’s not so much that we have to cut anything out as that we simply need to refocus, reemphasize, and re-prioritize.

Is life chaotic right now? Do you feel that every time you try to do something, everything else caves in on you? Don’t be afraid to take stock of life and evaluate it. There might be some junk that needs to be thrown away. Or there may be some things that just need to be rearranged. Either way, life will run much more smoothly when the cleaning out and rearranging is done!