It’s There But Have You Taken the Time to Look
The other day I went on a crazy closet-cleaning adventure with my sister-in-law; it was a task I had dreaded doing for over three years. My husband would just look at me every time I would say I have nothing to wear. (That is a command line from many women!) Whenever the saints from church saw me in a different outfit, they would ask if that was from ‘Nonia’ and we would all laugh. Nonia is the name for my closets where something new that I never got around to wearing has been buried.
I never thought of saving my clothes as hoarding, but I had turned into a clothing hoarder. When I opened the door to my closet was when I realized where that spirit of hoarding came from. My mother had ingrained in us girls, “Never get rid of your clothes because you never know when you will need them again.” Actually, as I am typing this blog, I realize that hoarding is a form of fear of lack. My mom was a product of the early depression years and, during that era, everything was saved and reused or made into another useful item.
Cleaning the closet was like going on a treasure hunt. My long-lost swimwear had been buried in my ‘Nonia’ closet. As I was sorting through the closet the thought occurred to me, “It is there but have you taken the time to look?” I was searching in the wrong closet.
In life we tend to look in the wrong places for what we need, or we ask the wrong people for answers. The Word of God is clear in how we are to take the time to come to Him for all our needs and desires. “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10).
I never thought of saving my clothes as hoarding, but I had turned into a clothing hoarder. When I opened the door to my closet was when I realized where that spirit of hoarding came from. My mother had ingrained in us girls, “Never get rid of your clothes because you never know when you will need them again.” Actually, as I am typing this blog, I realize that hoarding is a form of fear of lack. My mom was a product of the early depression years and, during that era, everything was saved and reused or made into another useful item.
Cleaning the closet was like going on a treasure hunt. My long-lost swimwear had been buried in my ‘Nonia’ closet. As I was sorting through the closet the thought occurred to me, “It is there but have you taken the time to look?” I was searching in the wrong closet.
In life we tend to look in the wrong places for what we need, or we ask the wrong people for answers. The Word of God is clear in how we are to take the time to come to Him for all our needs and desires. “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10).