A Lifetime of Accumulation

Last week I was privileged to help an older couple pack up their home in preparation for moving. They have lived there for nearly 20 years and there was a lot of stuff to go through. How do you decide what you keep and what you throw away? How do you decide if someone else would find it usable or garbage? How do you decide when to let go of the sentimental things that you have collected through your life?

This is not the first time that I have helped older couples pack up their belongings in preparation for a move. I have helped people organize rooms and spaces and the same questions are just as relevant in that time as they are in a move. In fact, I have asked myself some of these questions when I declutter in my own home.  

It is my experience that when we downsize and simplify our homes, there is a feeling of space or freedom that comes. It is a delightful! It would seem that every possession we have to keep track of in our homes causes mind clutter. We have to mentally keep track of it too. There are times when I have purchased things and completely forgotten that I even have them. But more often than not, I remember purchasing something, but I simply cannot remember where I put it away.

So taking all these things into consideration, I was talking with my husband a few nights ago and we were talking about letting things go. There are feelings we experience in life that build, accumulate, and sometimes become overwhelming. How do you decide what to let go of? How do you decide if a feeling blesses or curses you or those you love? How do you decide which feelings have been accumulated simply from habit and comfort rather than from need? How do you decide which of those comfortable feelings are harming you? And most importantly, how do you let go of them?

I have been told by some that you cannot let things go – rather you have to hang onto them, cling to them, as you work through them. But what is the sense of holding on, and clinging to things that hinder your progress. Is it not like trying to shove one more material item into a box, or a corner, or a cupboard and finding all of those things so full that you find yourself having to leave it on the floor? have you ever tripped over one of those things?

 The day will come that if we want to move on with our lives we will have to box up some of these feelings and completely eradicate them from our hearts. This is what I saw this older couple do with their possessions last week. They had so many bags and boxes that they filled full of items that were no longer useful or beneficial to them. Some of it went to the dump, and some of it went to recycle. Either way, these are things that they will never stumble over again and wonder what to do with. 

Our feelings that trip us up, need to be boxed up or bag and carried from our lives. We may decide to take them to the dump, symbolically letting them go as we recognize that they hold us back and prevent us from progressing. We may bag them up and send them to recycle symbolically handing them to our Savior where He takes those negative feelings, purifies and perfects them and then offers us the replacements in the form of love. Love for ourselves, love for our neighbors, and a love that radiates to all we meet! He is there to bless us and help us as we let go and eliminate things that should not linger permanently in our hearts. AndHhe is the only one that can do this.

I have felt Him work his miracles work in my heart. I have had an increase of joy, love, and all forms of goodness as I have given over to Him the destructive, dark feelings that have sought a place in me. I am so thankful I have not hung onto them, or found comfort in them or felt the need to cling to them for some idea of identity or purpose. I am so grateful I can purge my life of the useless feelings that do not benefit me. This is a moving job for the Savior. He comes into your heart and helps you box up those unneeded things and he takes them away for you and that makes room in your heart for love, peace, and joy everlasting.

Knowing Better

The other day as I came into the living room, there was a flutter of wings and a lot of commotion near the birdcage. Upon investigating I discovered that my cat had managed to get himself in between the house plants and the cage and it was really upsetting the birds. Now, Charlie knows better. We have gotten after him a number of times over the last year for similar incidents. In fact, he even knocked the birdcage down one Sunday shortly after we got him. It scared him so bad that he went and hid until we got home from church. Thankfully the birds had the good sense to stay in the cage because they could have gotten out. So he knows better. Stuck in a space barely big enough to turn around, he was caught and reprimanded. I firmly said, "Charlie, get out of there!" And it was enough to send him running. He literally exuded guilt. 

He is similar when it comes to scratching the furniture. He knows better, he knows that that isn't allowed. But for some reason he can't seem to resist. When I hear it happening, All I have to do is firmly call out "Charlie, stop it!" Usually he'll stop and slink away but if he doesn't, all I have to do is start walking toward him, and off he goes.

It is an interesting phenomenon. Not only do I see it in my cat, but I have witnessed it in my children quite often. I have to chuckle when I come around the kitchen corner, just in those hours before it's time to eat, and discover them they're eating something that they know they shouldn't be eating that close to supper. They always jump, or act guilty, or try to sneak away without discovery. But I know that they know better.

What is it about us, that when we know better, we still justify doing something we know we shouldn't do. I have taken the opportunity over a period of several years, for frequent self-introspection. I have always had a high guilt consciousness, or as I often fondly refer to it as my overactive conscience. However, I am thankful for my conscience. It has prevented me from doing things that I knew I should not do and as a result, I have seldom found myself stuck between houseplants and birdcages, wishing for a way to escape. I am so thankful for this blessing. I don't know what I did to deserve such a diligent conscience, but I am thankful to my Heavenly Father for it. It has never steered me wrong. Doing something you know is wrong, even when no one is around, will never relieve you of the guilt and regrets that come with it... Especially when you know better.

I will continue to remind my cat to behave. I will continue to remain my children of the blessings of obedience. And I will continue to be grateful for my own blessing of an overactive conscience. Listening to that conscience has become a source of joy that brings with it peace and happiness. I am thankful that I know better!

Congestion to Health

Happy New Year! I can say that now, because I mostly have a voice again, and I can breathe like I'm supposed to!!! Today I celebrated my return to health by doing some serious cleaning in my house. I focused my efforts on only one room. I found dust bunnies, dirty laundry, I even found a knitting pattern that I thought I had lost forever… It feels so good to have things organized and in their place where they belong.

This morning I attended a Relief Society breakfast. After the meal they gave us a message and encouraged us to set some goals specifically for ourselves. When I came home, I pondered the goals that I wanted to set. I have goals that I made last year or the year before that I want to continue to do for the rest of my life. I realized that to be at my best, and to be most effective in achieving these new goals as well as carrying on with the old ones, that having things neat and tidy and clean would help me accomplish this desire. This room being clean makes it possible to study the gospel more effectively, think clearly, pray sincerely, and feel the peace of the Savior. In fact, I think that this was the first step in accomplishing the goals I have set for myself for this year.

Now having just gotten over a bad cold, I feel much like this room being recently cleansed and organized again. There is no longer anything in my sinuses plugging me up and inhibiting me from taking a breath, my lungs are mostly clear, my eyes are no longer heavy and droopy, my skin is no longer chapped and dry, my throat is no longer itchy and sore, and I no longer have a cough that expels every drop of breath within me. Having those things gone is so much like cleaning a room. It feels great!

As a seminary teacher, I can't help but see the parallel to the atonement of Christ which both heals and cleanses our lives. I'm so grateful for the reminders of these things that I've had today. It is a joy to me to be clean and pure. I am not perfect, I make mistakes, and just like the room that I cleaned today – sometimes things get cluttered and need to be put right again, and sometimes I catch a bug and get sick, but I know that it is through the atonement of Jesus Christ and through obedience to His laws that spiritual cleansing and purification come to pass.