Lofts & Loftier

So, Simon and I needed to put some things in the loft today. Cue an afternoon spent reorganising the things that were already up there to make space for the new. “Don’t look in that box” I cautioned. “If we start looking in boxes we’ll be here all day” Too late. A Combine Harvester (toy, not full size – it’s not that big a loft…), some Hornby Dublo trains and various bits of old electronics too late. Also discovered some old school reports, a pool table for Benjamin to try, all the children’s first shoes and Ruth’s GCSE artwork pieces. “This seems to have taken a lot longer than I expected” said Simon as we emerged just in time for Pointless.

It dawned on me as we came downstairs that I had spent an afternoon rearranging stuff we don’t use in order to create space for more stuff we don’t use. Put bluntly, mostly, we had rearranged junk to make space for more junk. “A metaphor for much of my life” I muttered. And whilst that was the sentiment of a slightly grumpy 5x year old, there is a salutary level of truth in it.

Isn't that what we do a lot of the time? Rearrange the junk in our lives in order to make space for a new bit that we have acquired? A new hurt, a new slight, a new ‘fact’, a new disappointment, a new anxiety, a new unattached emotion, a new jealousy, a new lust, a new sin?

We know in our hearts, just as I do regarding the loft, that what it really needs is a good clear out. You know what? As I moved stuff around in the cramped, hot confines of the loft, I even took the trouble to sweep the boards where the old stuff had been. Yep, you wouldn't want new stuff that you don’t use standing on dust would you? You don’t want the junk getting messier than it already is….

So here I am, moving junk around in my life, sweeping underneath it so that it has a nice clean place to sit. When Simon heard my muttering, he wisely said “Yeah, but it’s the best we could do in the time” And of course he was right. Sometimes, with the junk of life that’s the best we can do. We know we should forgive that person, deal properly with that pain, spend time with God understanding what just happened so that it doesn't fester. But we've got the kids to pick up, that deadline to meet and whilst we know all sorts of good Biblical principles, in the pressure of the moment, the best we can do is create some space for this new piece. But as with lofts, so with life. Eventually we need to set aside time to go through it properly.

Time to sort through what are happy memories, the things that are no longer in current use, but which have great emotional value. We need time to reflect on childhood days with the Combine Harvester, the joy of seeing our children in their first shoes. Time too to look again at things that used to be too painful to have on open display, to have a moment to reconnect with God as we rediscover the album of the one no longer with us. Good and precious moments all. But also time to do the hard work of sorting through the old paper work, of bagging up the real rubbish, of dragging the junk down the steps, of making the trip(s) to the tip and actually being rid of what is just clutter. It’s tiring, physically and at times emotionally. Just like with life.

Lent of course is the traditional season for Christians to be ‘shriven’, to reflect, to confess, to repent, to engage with God in removing the rubbish. A time to bring the junk of the year to the rubbish tip of the cross, where Jesus can miraculously redeem it, reuse it and make it beautiful. But we don’t have to wait for a particular season. If your loft is full of stuff, determine to deal with it soon. Get a friend to help you, it’s more fun that way. Share the good memories, hold hands in the painful ones. Allow them to encourage you to let go of things you might otherwise hold on to, but which you both know are unhelpful.

Don’t forever keep just moving it round, cleaning underneath it, sweeping in the gaps. Eventually you run out of space and you find your hands full of junk, with nowhere to put it down. Do you know what happens then? Either you cram it in the loft anyway, until it all comes crashing down in a catastrophic moment, or you find a use for it, a place to display it. The rubbish of our life becomes our life.

See you at the tip….