There was a game going around Face Book recently where people would tell how old they are without using numbers. I commented, “I am Fibber McGee and Molly old”. I’m sure that triggered a lot of Google searches. For those of you who are age impaired (too young to remember); it was a radio show from 1935 to 1959. It was a situation comedy about a married couple who lived at 79 Wistful Vista. There was a running joke when in almost every episode someone would open McGee’s hall closet and there would be 45 seconds of banging and clanging as you would imagine all of the junk and clutter spilling out. I must have heard that over a hundred times and it made me laugh every single time. The great thing about old time radio was that you got to use your imagination.
I think most people have a “junk drawer” in their kitchen; at least I hope I’m not the only one. Any tool or gadget that may come in handy later, winds up in that drawer until it won’t hold one more thing. It’s sort of a miniature McGee’s closet. My parents were children of the Great Depression and they passed on to me the philosophy, “Waste not – want not.” Nothing would get thrown away unless it was completely useless. In this age when almost everything you buy is designed to be disposable and replaced with a newer model, that philosophy should be dying out; but I suspect it may have become a “generational curse” in some families. A friend of mine decided to try an ancient oriental method for removing clutter. You take hold of something and if you get negative vibes you throw it away. She told me the very first day she got rid of a treadmill, two mirrors and a bathroom scale.
Why am I sharing all of this with you? It is because we also tend to keep a lot of mental and emotional clutter in our lives that we need to recognize and dispose of. Our minds don’t fill to overflowing like my junk drawer or McGee’s closet. According to biologists, we only use a small portion of our mental capacity; so there is plenty of room for us to add new scripture passages, song lyrics and experiences to our memory. What I am writing about is the negative clutter the enemy has sneaked in among our thoughts and feelings. Not all negative thoughts are bad. When I remember the tough times Carol and I lived through, it draws me closer to God and to her memory. It is the negativity that causes me to question my worthiness to be God’s adopted son that needs to be tossed.
As Corrie ten Boom wrote, “We must forget those things which are behind, because God has (Philippians 3:13-14). We need to stop allowing Satan or an overly sensitive conscience dredging up sins that have been previously confessed and forgiven (1 John 1:7-9). Remember, God has cast our sins into the depths of the sea and has placed a sign above them, NO FISHING ALLOWED.” Isn’t it time you and I throw all of our guilt and regrets into that sea along with our sins? It doesn’t have to be spring to do some house cleaning.