Less is More

It final got to me. Everywhere I looked, it was there. I walked into the kitchen, it was there. And in the dining room, it was there. In the bedrooms and the closets? Oh, it was definitely there! Not so much in the living room, but I could still see it there. What was "IT"? JUNK! Piles and piles of junk laying all over the place. Stuff we never use, toys that are never played with, clothes that are never worn, papers that were kept for now reason- junk everywhere. I couldn't take it any longer.


I spent ALL last week going through book cases, dresser drawers, toy boxes, craft supplies, cabinets, and closets. By the time Saturday rolled around I had 5 lawn and leaf size bags full of junk to through away, 7 trash bags full of clothes to take to Goodwill, dishes to get rid of, furniture to toss, toys to pass on, and baby bottles and furniture to pack up for my baby sis (who I'm praying will soon be blessed with a little one). In the midst of the cleaning out and cleaning up, I rearranged furniture and set up and organized our new home school room. When all was said and done, I stood back and surveyed my home. I had a revelation both concerning the "stuff" which filled my home and the "stuff" which fills my heart: I've come to realize that LESS is MORE.



Let me explain:


First, my home. As I threw away my junk I often thought, "Why did I buy this? I've never even used this. Where did this come from?" Too many times we think that if buy this "stuff" it will fill some kind of void in our hearts, but it never does. Sometimes we buy more "stuff" to impress others, but they could care less because they are wrapped up in their own "stuff". Other times we buy "stuff" to keep our kids occupied so that we can do our own thing. Then there are those times we impulsively buy "stuff" for no reason at all.



The Lord showed me that with LESS "stuff" in my home, MORE money is going to be in my bank account available for Him to use as He sees fit. He also showed me that with LESS "stuff", literally, taking up space in my home, there will be MORE space for me to get down on the floor and play with my kids. With LESS toys in the toy box, my kids will use MORE of their imaginations to play and discover new things and their gifts and talents, given to them by the Lord, will have MORE of an opportunity to develop and grow. When I focus my time and energy MORE on what pleases the Lord and LESS on what others think about my status quo in life, then God will be glorified.



Now, to my heart. As I cleaned out and threw away the junk that had taken up residence in my home, the Lord spoke to me about the junk that had taken up residence within my heart- the bad attitudes, the selfishness, the pride and jealously, the impatience with my children, the complaining about all the laundry that I can never seem to get caught up on, the desires to have more instead of being content with what God has abundantly blessed me with, and it goes on and on. At first I was a little defensive thinking that all was good between me and God and that there was nothing within my heart that needed to be dealt with, but then the Lord, through His great mercy and grace, spoke to me.



There's a difference between surface cleaning and deep-down, get to the heart of the matter cleaning. Surface cleaning for me has always been a little light cleaning and then shove everything else in the closet when company comes over. Last week was not about surface cleaning my home; it was about deep-down, open the closet doors and throw away all the junk cleaning.



The surface of my heart, to myself, to me looked good, but God was more concerned about opening up the secret closet doors of my heart and doing some deep-down cleaning. We have got to allow the Lord to get rid of all the junk that is filling our hearts so that there is more room for Him to fill us with His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. When our hearts are filled with junk, where is there room for God? The Lord showed me that I need LESS of myself, my desires, my rotten attitudes, my complaining, my this and my that filling up my heart, so that there is MORE room for Him.



LESS of me and MORE of Him is what I want. How about you? Do you need to allow the Lord to do some deep-down, open up the secret closet doors of your heart and throw away all the junk cleaning so that you have room for Him to reign supreme in your life?

"be filled with the Spirit."

Ephesians 5:18b, NKJV