“Okay, Mom, my room is done,” my young son told me after he’d spent an hour or two cleaning it.
I, too, had been cleaning my room, and I was still sifting through old photos and tidbits of the past I’d squirreled away.
I looked in his room. Although he had indeed made progress, at one glance I could tell it was not “done.”
“Look at your closet,” I said as he turned toward the remaining hidden mess he’d ignored.
“Aww, Mom,” he sighed in exasperation, hoping for a break just beyond his grasp. I understood his pain, as I had my own cleanout to finish.
We both still had work to do.
Challenge of cleanouts
Cleanouts take time and energy. And most children prefer to do something else — anything else! — rather than clean their rooms.
For one thing, we get distracted by the forgotten “treasures” we unearth as we clean, so the task typically takes much longer than anticipated.
For another thing, it’s often difficult for us to recognize that we must let go of things we no longer need.
For me, certain things I keep hold memories, and if I get rid of them, I’m afraid I will forget those memories.
Distracted by ‘treasures’
We are attached to too much. This is true in body and mind, for children as well as adults.
As children of God, we need very little, just the trust that Our Father will provide what we need for each day.
But in a culture of plenty, we can get distracted by the seeming “treasures” that attract us physically or emotionally. Those “treasures” are baubles of society that in excess can distract us from living out our lives as true disciples of Christ as Our Father intends.
Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6: 19-21).
Hidden attachments
Just as a parent can point out to a child something he overlooked in the physical cleaning of his room, so too does our Father remind His children of hidden attachments in our hearts and minds that must be cleaned out.
Maybe these attachments are bad habits leading to sinfulness, recurring negativity, doubts, anxiety, unforgiveness, or uncharitable thoughts.
Maybe they have to do with a relationship or an attitude toward someone in your life. Or maybe they point toward selfishness or prideful motivation hidden deep within your heart.
Whatever your attachments, if they are distracting you from our Father, they must be cleaned out.
Time for Confession
The beginning of a new year is the perfect time for new resolutions, new beginnings, new and deeper prayerful examinations of our souls so that we can turn to our Father in Confession and receive His grace to clean out hidden “treasures” and attachments that distract us and prevent us from growing closer to Him.
“A leper came to him. Begging him and kneeling, he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean” (Mark 1: 40-42).
Even if we try to ignore the hidden messy closet of our souls, Our Father can still see it.
And His opinion of the cleanliness of our souls is the only one that matters.
Julianne Nornberg, mother of four children, is a teacher’s aide at St. John the Baptist School in Waunakee.