When was the last time you cleaned out your house?

Every now and then my family has to take a few days (or longer) and start going through what we have. Especially with kids, we accumulate things and some of them we don’t ever use anymore. They just clutter up the house.

The Usefulness of Less
Sometimes we can feel like more is better, but there’s an interesting thing that happens when you get more. We have limits. The more we get doesn’t mean we can use more things, it often just changes what things we use. In some cases, it actually decreases how much we use.

Have you ever looked at a menu that had 10 pages of food? Most people look at a menu like that and freeze. There are too many options and they can’t make a choice. The same can happen when we have too much stuff. We use less. We may actually be missing out on using some very useful, helpful things because we don’t see them or remember them. Many restaurants intentionally limit the size of their menu because of this. We can do the same with our stuff.

When was the last time you cleaned out your life?

Just like we can have too much stuff in our house, we can have too many activities and commitments in our lives. The overabundance of things we do can prevent us from focusing on the things that are really important. We focus on the temporary at the expense of the eternal.

We are constantly “doing” and get worn out doing it, but we aren’t doing the things that are truly good and helpful.

Just like with the house, sometimes we have to stop and clean out our lives. We can take a look at what we are actually spending our time on. Evaluate it. Consider what we don’t really need to do and maybe some things we really should be doing, but aren’t.

This week, consider hitting the pause button and evaluate your schedule. You may find a way to do less, but accomplish something much more meaningful and long-lasting.

Heavenly Father,

Give me wisdom as I look at my life. Give me discernment as I evaluate the things I do with my time and help me to focus on what is truly important.

Amen.