Pack Rats: Parting With Sentimental Emotions and Treasures

Making Way for New Things in the New Year

Call me Kathy – the original pack rat.  Some friends and family see a problem… I hit the big five-oh a couple of years back and I still have my prom invitation and a completely dried up wrist corsage.  But don’t call Hoarders, it’s not like that. I have a half a dozen or so storage boxes of memories and things that I’m not ready to part with just yet!  Movie ticket stubs (The Jazz Singer) from my first date with the hubby, old letters (like emails for you millenniums), news clippings, etc.  I never considered my attachment to these treasures a problem and never even felt the need to part with them.

Although I remain pretty resolute about hanging on to these scraps of sweet memories, it recently occurred to be that I am an emotional pack rat too. Oh yes! The thought of removing anyone or anything from the active list of my life would be worse than throwing out a rice packet (before birdseed and bubbles) from my friend’s 1981 wedding – the very thought of parting with either makes me uncomfortable.

This aversion to weeding out and occasionally cleaning up my life has led to a life of overload!  Not to mention that my bulging baggage and time commitments to each of these sentiments (people, situations & things) becomes unmanageable. As of late, the Lord, speaking in a still small voice, has been nudging me to let some treasured things go … to lighten the load and make room for some amazing things coming my way.   I recently read a blog post from Margaret Feinberg, author of A Time for Everything, that suggested sometimes endings are necessary.

I am thankful that the Lord is patient and caring while he gently encourages us to let go of some old treasures in order to make room for the new tasks and blessings he has planned. Forgetting those things which are behind (failures & successes), and reaching forth to those things ahead of us. Yes, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God. (Philippians 3:13-14)

Are there things God is calling you to lay aside?  Our failures are easy to toss but maybe it is time to put away and stop glorying in past successes and press forward.  Perhaps the New Year cliché  – Out with the old and in with the new applies here. The best is yet to come.  Isn’t God just like that? Is God calling you to let go of something? I would love to hear your thoughts.