Cleaning Upstairs

Read: Psalm 51

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. - Psalm 51:10


This summer we needed more room for hay in our haymow. I knew we needed to clean out the one end that had served as a catch-all for twelve years. One rainy day my eleven-year-old son and I tackled the job of sorting the things piled there. We found anything from old egg cartons to bicycle parts and more.

"Dad," my son asked, "what about this, and this?"
"I guess it is trash," I answered.
"This looks good yet. Shall we keep this?" he asked.
"Yes," I agrred, "I think we can still use that."

Finally, after sorting for an hour and a half or two hours, we had three one-horse wagon loads of trash to get rid of. The things we considered useful were re-stacked to one side. My son and I stepped back to observe the neatness of the haymow. My son said, "Well, Dad, it looks as if only about one fourth of the things that were up here any value."
"Yes,", I chuckled, :I guess so."

This comment caused me to do some deep thinking in the days that followed. How is it with my "upstairs" - my mind? What things do I keep stored there? Are they valuables in the sight of God, or is it mostly trash such as wrong attitudes, petty grievances, selfishness, wrong motives, and hurt feelings? Are we willing to get rid of this trash, or do we enjoy wallowing around in it? Too often we hang on to these thoughts, thinking they have some value. In reality, they are cluttering space that God would like to occupy.

Why not give God the broom and let Him do the cleaning?

Joseph Yoder - Rushsylvania, OH

When it is time to clean the "upstairs," let God do the sorting.