Garbage?

In a closet?

Opening the closet door for the first time in months…

I see beach bags…

Filled with suntan lotion and beach shoes …

Beach blankets…

Last year’s sand spilling out of hasty folds…

All strangely out of place on a day of subzero wind chills and 10 inches of snow.

And on top of those reminders of summer…

A tightly closed garbage bag.

Garbage?

In a closet?

Really?

I approach the bag carefully…

No odor.

A good sign.

Not knowing what to expect…

I pick up the bag…

Pull open its cinched top…

And look inside…

Laughing, I dump its contents on the floor…

Mail…

Junk mail…

Mail I was sorting one summer day when the phone rang…

Friends were on the way…

What to do with the pile of mail?

The quickest answer?

Hide it…

In a garbage bag…

In a seldom used closet filled with seldom used items.

What will I find sorting through the mail?

Maybe a forgotten check for several million dollars?

No such luck.

Coupons expired months ago…

Old bills paid automatically online…

Nothing worth keeping…

I could have thrown everything away long ago…

But I have a hard time throwing things away…

I carry them with me long after I should have abandoned them.

Particularly memories of my mistakes…

Of my sins…

The quickest way to deal with them?

Hide them…

Still carrying them with me…

Until they become the garbage of my soul …

Forgetting nothing can be hidden from God…

…For he knows the secrets of the heart. Psalm 44:21

Forgetting He knows my sins…But loves me anyway…

…God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:8

Forgetting He promises to exchange the garbage of my soul …

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

For the treasure of an eternity spent with Him…

 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16