all these things

The last couple of weeks I've found myself cleaning out my life.  All of the things that I've put in piles and boxes are things that I loved.  I still love them.  I still think they are beautiful and nice and neat.  I just don't need them in my life anymore.

I'm sure my Facebook friends are getting tried of the online garage sale thing I've got going, but now that I've cleaned the clutter it's just sitting in my house with no where to go.  That drives me crazy too.  (Who am I kidding? It's a short trip to crazy for where I sit.)

Sure, I could take it to Goodwill or some other charity.  But if I sell it to my friends, I know who has it and how they'll use it.  I know that one day it will probably be in one of their garage sales, but until then it will be sitting on their mantle or hanging on their walls.  Hopefully they'll experience the same joy these things brought me.

And there's the problem.

Things will never really bring lasting joy.

For a while they'll be fun.  They'll brighten your room and when you look at them you might sigh just a little bit, but eventually, they're going to drive you crazy too.  They'll loose their esthetic appeal as your personal tastes change.  They'll got out of style.  They'll start to collect dust.  They'll end up in a box in the corner of your catch all room or in a garage or in an attic until they make it to your garage sale.  These things...

It sounds like a sad way to go to me.

But isn't that often how we treat family and friends in our lives.  They make us laugh.  They make us cry.  They bring true joy.  They get to stay.  But then, it's hard and we don't love them as much anymore and we replace them with someone new.

I can honestly say, "I've been there."  But sadly I can also say, "I've done that."

I resolve, and I hope you will to, to treat things just as they are: Temporary. Useful for a season.  They will change.  They will break.  They are unfixable.  And to treat people and family and friends as they truly are: Eternal.  A picture of the image of God.  Breakable, but fixable.

It's going to be a challenge, but all things in the world are never worth the people in your life.