We All Got Junk

One of the things I have come to realize is that everyone has some junk in their lives.  I am not talking about junk in our closets and storage rooms and garages, although we tend to accumulate junk in those areas as well.  What I am talking about is our past.  Each of us has a storage unit called our hearts.  That is where we put things that have hurt us.  That is where emotions get sent that we don’t know how to deal with.  We stuff things into this area that was not meant to hold junk.  When we do that over time it tends to slowly creep out in every area of our lives.  The older we get the more difficult it is to keep our junk in that safe place deep inside us.

What we choose to carry in our hearts can determine whether we take hold of the best life God has planned for us or struggle with the best always being just out of reach.  Jesus showed us the way to keep this from happening.  No matter what happened to him or around him, he forgave everyone of everything – immediately.  When we can do the same, that is when we can live without junk.  Just like the feathers that keep a duck from getting wet, forgiveness keeps us from accumulating junk.

First Corinthians 13:5 says that love does not take into account a wrong that has been done to it, or a wrong suffered.  When we stuff a wrong we have suffered it may sit there for a while and fester, or we keep picking it up and playing with.  Then we try to get other people to pick up our junk by telling them all about it.  They can end up adding to our junk by joining in the pity party or the bashing session.  Hopefully we can find someone that will point us toward forgiveness and God.

By letting things roll off of us like water off a duck, it allows us to keep going in life without getting stuck in all the junk.  It is actually possible to get to a place where nothing offends us.  If we decide beforehand, as Jesus did, that we are not going to stuff offenses into our hearts, it allows us to live with great peace.  Psalm 119:165 says “Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.”

When we are easily offended, we cannot have peace, but if we are not easily offended, we can live in great peace.  So here are the questions to ponder: Is your heart light or heavy?  Peaceful or troubled?  Are some of the contents of your heart crowding out the peace and joy that God has for you?  This is not an easy process and you may need some help to clean out the junk, but the freedom you experience is worth all the work.  Start letting go of yesterday, start working on humility and forgiveness and see what happens.