Let’s play a game!
It’s called the “What’s In Your Purse?” game. (Bonus points if you read that question in a Samuel Jackson what’s-in-you-wallet voice.)
Here’s how you play. Find a table suitable for the size purse you carry and dump everything out of your purse onto said table top. I had to use the dining room table, y’all.
Seriously, it was ridiculous the things I had in there.
I had noticed my purse gradually getting heavier and heavier but I just didn’t stop long enough to tend the gathering mass of stuff. So I ended up with four old grocery lists (all on 4×6 note cards…I love using index cards for lists!), a thank you card a friend gave me after shooting some maternity pictures for her ~ ahem, back in April, a postcard from a field trip I took with Abby and one from The Art of Brick exhibit that I saw with Sam ~ both in May. And store receipts! My goodness, I must have had a dozens. Not to mention my regular wallet, change purse and various other odds and ends you can see here.
Six water bottle lids. Six! I like drinking bottled water and any time I get in the van I usually take one with
me. And when I open them I usually just toss the lid into the change holder thingie. Where they were bound to fall out and end up on the floor of the van. Something which my love’s soul doth hate. So I got in the habit of not actually throwing them away but periodically putting them in my purse so that he wouldn’t find them and be bothered by them.
Most of this stuff had already served it’s purpose and I didn’t need it anymore. But there I was lugging it around and while on their own none of it was really heavy or bulky, it all hindered me from easily finding the things I really needed and I was surprised by how much lighter my purse was when I cleaned it out.
Cleaning out all the junk and clutter and I couldn’t help but wonder at the junk and clutter we carry around in our hearts and minds. How many lists do you have in your head? The list of things you regret or wish you’d done? Possibly a list of all the things you have to do because you delight in letting everyone know how very busy you are. Or maybe a list of offenses, things you are keeping filed away against someone.
Maybe you have a couple of postcards of happy things in your life…not so bad unless you are living in the past, constantly comparing the now to the then and reminding yourself of all that you used to have. Maybe the thank you cards are your way of boosting your ego and you are forever pulling them out to prove to yourself that you are important and needed.
Do you have any receipts tucked up in that heart of yours? A running tally perhaps for your husband and children of all the ways they owe you? Is there one for your co workers and friends that is always at your finger tips, ready to be pulled out and gone over so they know just exactly how much you’ve done for them?
Do you have a bunch of bottle lids rolling around in your heart and mind? Little things that annoy and bother others that you just won’t really stop doing but try to limit how much they annoy and bother someone. Your little sins that you try and cover up with the dried up container of mascara that doesn’t really work anymore.
Our hearts and minds can get cluttered up pretty quickly and that can keep us from serving others as quickly and fully as we possibly could.
So what are you carrying around? Maybe it’s time to dump it all out and get rid of somethings you’ve been thinking and dwelling on.
You’ll be amazed at how much better you’ll feel.
The Common Place 