Confessions of a Junk Drawer Life

Confession: My Kitchen Junk Drawer

 

Confessions from a junk drawer life.

A junk drawer’s purpose is to have the things we need close at hand instead of far away in the storage or in the garage. However, junk drawers, when you give them a few years or even days, quickly live up to their name. They become a free for all filled with so many things that you can’t even open the drawer. When we don’t know what’s important or when we’re too lazy to put it where it should go, we end up with a non-functional, more than slightly scary junk pile.

I think this is true of our lives as well, not only in things, but in relationships, in unfinished conversations, in unfinished forgiveness, in unfinished dreams, and unrealistic expectations. We allow these unfinished things that feel so important, but we have nowhere to put them to collect in the recesses of our minds, stealing our energy and even joy.

Don’t live a junk drawer life.

Does your junk drawer represent your brain? If your brain is like mine, then you have:

• Too much stuff in it, you can’t even open the drawer to access what you need.

• Even if there’s good stuff in there, it doesn’t matter because you could never get to it.

• Some things inside the drawer were useful a long time ago, but no longer serve a purpose.

• Some things in my junk drawer fall into the what is that category? I didn’t know what it was, but it seemed like it might have been an important part of something I needed, and so I just shoved it in there.

Do you need to keep holding onto the items because you consider, “What if I need…”

This question is rooted in the fear of not having what you need. God doesn’t want you to squander the resources He’s given you, but He also wants you to have enough faith to let go and know that He will provide exactly what is needed, when it is needed.

Allow God to free you from a junk drawer life. Allow Him to refocus your brain on what’s truly important. You must let go of the clutter so that there is enough space in your physical, emotional, social, and spiritual worlds to access the important things.

The death of my father has been a very clarifying time. Things that once felt important are fading back into their rightful place in the background. Situations, events, and relationships that seemed so important and I spent a lot of time on, I learned were not. Some people who I thought would’ve been supportive have not been. While other people have stepped up in ways that were wonderfully surprising. In both instances, it helps to clarify relationships.

I’d like to believe after I go through this time of cleaning out the junk drawer in my mind, emotions, and physical house that it’ll stay clear and clean, but I don’t think that happens automatically; it takes intentionality.

I don’t know where your heart is right now, but I know God has the correct prioritization list for you; ask Him.

“To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24, ESV)

Prayer for you and me: Lord, I need to know what You want prioritized for my life. I’m tired of shoving everything into a drawer and feeling overwhelmed by options that aren’t satisfying and leave me drained. What relationships, conflicts, spiritual practices, and physical tasks do you want me to prioritize? I need help in Jesus’ name.