"Trashing the Trash"

“Trashing the Trash”

 

I coined a phrase a few years ago which I believe still holds true even though it hasn’t yet found its way into Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations. I maintain that the amount of unused and/or unnecessary things we save expands to fill the space we have available to keep it. When the storage area becomes oversaturated some of it has to go (a process Karen and I went through prior to our move to Florida). Useable items which don’t make the cut are given away, but much is defined as trash and finds its way to the dump or a similar final resting place.

As we’ve attacked this periodic chore a thought struck me from Nehemiah 4:10. The task of rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall had begun, but a few complained that, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.” In other words, they became discouraged because the trash kept them from seeing the end result.

How often have we been kept from God’s best because of the accumulation of useless junk in our minds! Over the years we’ve amassed guilt, anger, bitterness, hurt, and resentment (to name a few) which have expanded to so fill our lives that there’s no room for the things that are good. We then run the risk of becoming unloving (and maybe unlovable) people whom others avoid. The resulting loneliness feeds the other refuse and the old treadmill continues.

The time is always right to trash the trash of our lives. How? By a big dose of Philippians 4:8 (“Whatever is true…noble…right…pure…lovely…admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”). When we saturate our minds with the good stuff it expands to fill the available space, leaving no room for the garbage. Let’s give our “think list” a try. Chances are we’ll be much happier—and so will those who know us!

Blessings!

Jim McMillan