Making Space for Jesus

This week I have begun a good old clear out, something I love to do! However this time it comes with a spiritual dimension, which has added to my joy in throwing out, giving away, recycling and freecycling. For a while now my mental space has been growing smaller, you know, that space where you get to dream and pray and get excited about something, and pray and plan and dream some more, and then perhaps even put it all into action. I used to do that a lot, all the time. But somehow the mundane but important has begun to take up all my dreaming space, my hearing from God space. We all have to do it, shop, cook, tidy,  clean (well, I think about that more than actually do it!), fill out forms for school, tidy, help with homework, iron school uniform, tidy, find shoes, its endless, endless, and somehow I struggle to think of much else. I know there is another world out there, but I just can't seem to reach it!

Anyway, I finally got around to asking the Lord what I should do about it, if He had any wisdom on this matter for me. And yes, straight away He began to remind me about not storing up for ourselves treasures on earth (Matt 6v19-21). Oh, how I have stored up stuff! I might not have considered it treasure, but how I have sorted it out, tidied it, looked for it when it was missing, bid for it, hidden it away in places until it was needed, kept it 'just in case', moved it all again, shopped for it, imagined times when I would have plenty of time to use it and so kept it for that special day. Suddenly I realised just how much my stuff has stolen from me, my time mainly, but also my energy, money and sometimes my patience ("Am I the only one that actually puts things away around here, grrrr, grrrr, grrrr"). Whenever I see something in the wrong place (all the time!), or a bit missing to a game it (very often!) it occupies some of my mental space and robs me of some of my energy. 

Later in the passage, v 21, it says 'For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also'. I had always thought 'heart' meant strong desire towards something, something I really love. And I didn't think I really loved my stuff in that way. However, I have learnt that 'heart' can also mean 'mind'. Yes, I realise that my mind is on my stuff a lot, I don't want it to be, because I don't really love most of it, but just by the sheer volume of stuff we have it requires far too much of my attention, attention that I would rather be giving to 'seeking first the kingdom of God', in whatever form that takes for me. 

So, this time its serious. A lot of stuff is going. And a new attitude is arriving. An attempt to flow against the consumerist tide that we swim in. Already my head feels a little clearer, already Jesus has begun to plant a new dream in me, just for me. It feels so much better!